THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GOING  DOWN.    Page  34. 


DOWN  IN  A  MINE; 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 

"THE    STORY    OF    A    POCKET    BIBLE.' 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY, 

28   CORNHILL,  BOSTON. 


F 


NOTE. 

THIS  book  is  a  reprint  from  the  RELIGIOUS  TRACT 
SOCIETY  of  London.  It  will  interest  our  young  Amer- 
ican readers,  as  giving  them  some  knowledge  of  the 
occupations  and  dangers  of  the  mining  classes  of  Eng- 
land ;  while  it  presents,  in  a  simple  and  affecting  man- 
ner, the  value  of  religion  in  times  of  trouble,  and  the 
importance  of  &  due  preparation  for  eternity.  Both 
the  narratives  contained  in  it  are  understood  to  be  true 
histories  of  actual  events. 

W. 
(3) 


c"~  *~J» 

4.82:652 

LIBRARY 


CONTENTS. 


PAKT  FIKST. 

CHAP.  PAGE. 

I.    PETER  MORRISON'S  HOME, 7 

II.    PETER'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL,.  . 2) 

III.  THE  COAL  MINES, 33 

IV.  THE  "  CRUSH," .  49 

V.    BURIED  ALIVE, 65 

VI.     HOW  THEY  PASSED  THE  TIME, 84 

VII.  HOPE  AND  FEAR, 97 

VIII.    RESCUED! 112 

PART  SECOND. 

I.    THE  HARTLEY  NEW  PIT, 123 

II.    THE  DISASTER, 135 

III.  CLEARING  THE  SHAFT, 143 

IV.  THE  SABBATH, 150 

V.    THE  WORK  CONTINUED, 157 

VI.    THE  NEW  BRATTICE, 168 

VII.    SORROW  AND  CONSOLATION, 174 

VIII.  LAST  MOMENTS  IN  THE  MINE, 181 

(5) 


DOWN    IN   A   MINE; 

OB, 

BURIED  ALIVE. 

PART   FIRST. 

CHAPTER    I. 

PETEE  MORRISON'S  HOME. 

IT  is  not  a  very  pleasant  coun  .y  where 
Peter  Morrison  lived  when  he  was  a  boy; 
there  are  not  many  green  fields,  and  trees, 
and  hedge-rows  to  be  seen ;  and  the  houses 
look  neglected  and  dirty.  Every  thing  seems 
black  and  disagreeable  to  those  who  are  not 
accustomed  to  the  scene.  The  roads  are  al- 
most black :  great  hills  of  black  cinders  are 
heaped  up  in  all  directions  for  miles  and 
miles ;  the  very  streams  you  pass  seem  to  be 
flowing  with  black  water ;  and  even  the  birds 

(7) 


8  DOWN   IN    A   MINK. 

which  fly  about  in  the  air  (there  are  not 
many  of  them,  and  they  are  mostly  sparrows) 
have  a  black,  smoky,  melancholy  look. 

If  you  were  to  travel  through  this  country 
on  any  working  day  in  the  week,  you  would 
see  thick  smoke  rising  from  black-looking  fur- 
naces, and  spreading  above  and  around,  so  as 
to  darken  the  sky;  but  not  many  people 
would  be  visible,  and  those  whom  you  might 
meet  would  have  a  strange,  blackened  look 
about  them.  You  would  probably  pass  clus- 
ters of  black-looking  ruins,  which  were  once 
cottages  of  working  men,  but  which  have 
been  deserted  long  ago ;  and  you  might  well 
wonder  at  the  desolate  appearance  of  every 
thing  around  you. 

If  you  were  to  travel  through  this  country 
by  night,  you  would  be  startled,  perhaps,  by 
seeing  large,  blazing  fires  in  every  direction, 
appearing  to  rise  out  of  the  ground  in  huge 
flames.  And  either  by  night  or  by  day,  the 
young  traveler  would  very  naturally  be  glad 
to  get  away  as  soon  as  possible  from  so  dreary 
a  scene. 


PETEll    MulilUSOX's    HOME.  9 

But,  tliough  every  thing  looks  so  black  and 
dismal,  the  part  of  England  I  have  described 
is  very  important  to  the  whole  country,  and 
the  people  who  live  in  it  are  useful  and  indus- 
trious, and,  let  us  hope,  contented  and  happy 
also ;  though,  in  some  respects,  it  is  a  strange 
life  that  they  lead :  but  I  shall  speak  of  this 
in  another  chapter. 

In  one  of  his  beautiful  psalms,  David  has 
these  words :  "  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy 
works :  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  ail : 
the  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches."  Ps.  civ.  24. 
This  is  as  true  now  as  when  it  was  first 
spoken.  Indeed,  the  earth  has  more  riches 
than  had  then  been  discovered.  Not  only  is 
it  capable  of  growing  on  its  surface  all  man- 
ner of  fruits,  and  herbs,  and  plants,  'suitable 
for  the  use  of  men  and  animals,  but,  deep 
below  its  surface  are  great  treasures  also,  r.nd 
man's  industry  and  skill  are  employed  in 
drawing  forth  these  treasures.  Gold,  silve*^. 
and  every  other  kind  of  metal,  diamonds  and 
other  precious  stones,  are  among  them.  They 


10  DOWN    IX    A    MIXE. 

are  found  by  digging  into  the  earth,  and 
thousands  of  men,  in  different  parts  of  the 
\voiid.  spend  the  greater  portion  of  their  time 
in  searching  for  these  riches  in  mines  far  un- 
der ground. 

And  there  is  one  underground  treasure 
which  is  more  really  valuable  to  man  than 
gold,  or  silver,  or  precious  stones.  This  treas- 
ure is  coal  /  and  the  part  of  the  country  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking  is  that  part  in 
which  coal  is  found.  Every  child  knows  how 
useful  coal  is. 

At  one  time,  most  of  the  people  in  England 
who  were  employed  in  getting  coal  out  of 
the  earth  were  wild,  and  ignorant,  and  un- 
godly. They  knew  very  little  about  God  or 
his  Word ;  and  though  some  parts  of  his 
works  were  known  to  them,  they  did  not 
understand  them  as  being  his.  "God  was 
not  in  all  their  thoughts." 

The  greater  part  of  the  time  of  these  coal- 


PETER  MORRISON'S  HOME.  11 

they  naturally  were  glad  when  they  could 
spend  a  day  out  of  the  coal  pits,  and  feel  the 
fresh  breezes  and  warm  sunshine.  Sundays, 
to  them,  therefore,  were  doubly  pleasant  and 
acceptable.  But  instead  of  wisely  and  piously 
improving  the  day  which  God  had  blessed, 
they  turned  it  to  unholy  purposes  —  to  drunk- 
enness and  rioting,  to  gambling,  and  other 
vicious  practices,  and  very  often  to  quarrelling 
and  fighting.  Indeed,  the  colliers'  villages 
had,  at  this  earlier  time,  so  sad  a  character  for 
wickedness,  that  few  persons  cared  to  enter 
into  or  pass  through  them. 

But  there  were  some  good  men  who  pitied 
the  ignorance  and  wickedness  of  these  poor 
colliers,  and  offered  many  prayers  to  God  for 
their  conversion.  They  did  more  than  this : 
they  went  among  them,  and  preached  to  them 
about  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  way  of  salvation 
from  the  wrath  to  come.  They  read  the 
Bible  to  them,  and  explained  it  very  simply 
and  affectionately,  entreating  them  to  forsake 
their  sins,  and  to  seek  for  true  happiness  ancl 


12  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

eternal  life  in  the  only  way  in  which  they  can 
be  found,  namely,  by  true  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  leading 
to  obedience  to  God. 

All  this  was  new  to  the  poor  colliers,  who 
were  indeed  almost  like  heathens.  Some  of 
them  mocked,  and  blasphemed,  and  perse- 
cuted those  who  thus  sought  to  do  them 
good,  and  would  have  driven  them  away  from 
their  villages;  but  there  were  others,  whose 
hearts  were  touched  by  what  they  heard,  and 
who  desired  to  hear  more.  Indeed,  God  was 
with  his  servants,  who  had  ventured  into 
these  sad,  dark  parts  out  of  love  to  the  souls 
of  their  fellow-men,  and  he  gave  great  suc- 
cess to  his  own  Word,  which  they  faithfully 
preached ;  so  that,  after  a  time,  a  very  great 
change  was  seen  in  these  villages.  They  no 
more  resounded,  as  before,  with  cursing  and 
blasphemy;  were  no  longer  notorious  for 
Sabbath-breaking,  drunkenness,  and  idle  di- 
versions. Where  once  had  been  only  con- 
fusion and  strife,  there  were  peace  and  love. 


PETER  MORRISON'S  HOME.  13 

Great  numbers  of  the  people,  both  men  and 
women,  had  become  mild  in  their  manners, 
gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated.  And,  what 
was  better  than  this,  because  it  was  at  the 
root  of  it  all,  many  had,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
become  real  Christians  —  had  repented  of 
their  former  sinfulness,  and,  believing  in  Jesus, 
had  given  themselves  up  to  him,  to  be  saved 
by  him  in  his  own  way. 

And  thus  it  is,  whenever  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  received  into  the  hearts  of 
sinners:  they  become  new  creatures;  old 
things  pass  away,  and  all  things  become  new. 
This  gospel,  which  brings  salvation,  teaches 
us  "that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly 
lasts,  we  should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and 
godly,  in  this  present  world;"  while  "looking 
for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  ap- 
pearing of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  himself  for  us  that  he 
might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify 
unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works."  Titus  iL  11-14 


14  DOWN   IN   A    MINE. 

"  This  remedy  did  WISDOM  find, 
To  heal  diseases  of  the  mind ; 
This  sovereign  balm,  whose  virtues  can 
Restore  the  ruined  creature,  man. 

41  The  gospel  bids  the  dead  revive} 
Sinners  obey  the  voice  and  live  ; 
Dry  bones  are  raised,  and  clothed  afresh, 
And  hearts  of  stone  are  turned  to  flesh. 

"  Where  Satan  reigned,  in  shades  of  night, 
The  gospel  strikes  a  heavenly  light ; 
Our  lusts  its  wondrous  power  controls, 
And  calms  the  rage  of  angry  souls." 

Now  these  verses  describe,  very  correctly, 
the  alteration  which  was  seen  in  these  collier 
villages  after  the  gospel  had  been  introduced 
into  them.  Not  that  all  believed  and  were 
converted;  but  even  those  who  continued 
hard-hearted  and  impenitent  were,  in  some 
measure,  ashamed  to  go  to  the  lengths  of  open 
wickedness  to  which  they  had  once  run ; 
while  those  whose  hearts  had  been  opened  to 
receive  the  things  spoken  to  them  out  of  the 
Bible,  were  concerned  and  anxious  to  glorify 
God  their  Saviour  in  all  things,  and,  as  the 
Bible  requires,  "to  show  out  of  a  good  con- 
versation their  works  with  meekness  of  wis- 


PETER  MORRISON'S  HOME.  15 

dom."  Jaines  iii.  13.  They  desired  also  to 
know  more  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  to  learn 
more  and  more  of  his  will,  which  was  only 
natural,  for  their  hearts  were  set  upon  obtain- 
ing this  best  of  all  knowledge ;  so,  instead  of 
spending  the  holy  day  of  rest  in  profaneness 
and  idleness,  they  assembled  together  for  the 
worship  of  God,  and  for  the  purpose  of  lis- 
tening to  the  reading  and  preaching  of  his 
Word ;  while,  at  home,  they  strove,  as  much 
as  lay  in  their  power,  to  train  up  their  chil- 
dren in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord. 

And  very  affecting,  as  well  as  pleasant,  it 
was,  to  witness  the  eagerness  of  so  many  of 
these  once  untaught  pitmen,  and  their  fam- 
ilies, to  obtain  instruction;  and  to  hear  the 
tongues  which  had  been  so  familiar  with 
oaths,  and  curses,  and  corrupt  communica- 
tions, and  vile  songs,  now  engaged  in  prayer 
to  God,  and  singing  his  praises.  I  think  (do 
not  you  think  so  too,  young  reader?)  that 
this  was  a  sight  with  which  the  angels  of 


16  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

God  were  delighted ;  for  we  are  told  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  that  "  there  is  joy 
in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth."  Luke  xv.  10. 

Well,  many  years  passed  away,  and  those 
who  first  preached  the  gospel,  as  well  as  most 
of  those  who  first  heard  it  preached  in  these 
dark  villages,  were  no  longer  among  the  liv- 
ing. But  the  gospel  was  not  dead.  Oh,  no : 
that  can  never  be ;  and  the  fruits  of  the  faith- 
ful preaching  of  the  gospel  remained.  Among 
the  poor  colliers  were  many  who  were  "  rich 
in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  which  God 
has  promised  to  them  that  love  him."  James 
ii.  5.  Sundays  were  days  of  refreshment  to 
their  souls,  as  well  as  of  rest  to  their  bodies, 
wearied  with  the  hard  labor  of  the  week ;  the 
high  praises  of  God  were  heard  in  the  assem- 
blies of  his  people,  and  Sunday  schools  were 
to  be  found,  where  the  children  of  these  hard- 
working pitmen  were  taught  to  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

Now  I  have  to  tell  you  a  little  about  Peter 


PETER  MORRISON'S  HOME.  17 

Morrison,  his  home,  his  mother,  and  the  way 
in  which  he  spent  the  first  day  of  the  week 
of  my  story.  First  I  must  say,  however,  that 
not  all  the  pitmen  and  their  families  were 
obedient  to  God's  holy  commands,  or  were 
disposed  to  imitate  their  pious  fellow-workmen 
and  neighbors.  It  was  there  as  it  is  in  other 
villages  and  hamlets  —  there  were  many  who 
preferred  remaining  in  vice  and  ignorance, 
their  foolish  hearts  being  darkened,  and  their 
lives  showing  that  they  loved  darkness  rather 
than  the  heavenly  light  of  divine  truth,  and 
the  slavery  of  sin  than  the  happy  service 
of  God. 

The  mother  of  Peter  Morrison  was  not  one 
of  these:  she  was  a  pious  woman,  and  al- 
though not  very  learned,  she  could  read  the 
Bible,  and  she  loved  it.  She  was  a  poor 
widow ;  her  husband  had  died  some  years 
before,  leaving  in  her  charge  Peter,  who  was 
then  about  five  years  old,  and  a  little  girl,  still 
younger. 

Bur",  though  thus  left  in  sorrow,  the  widow 
2 


18  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

was  not  forsaken  by  God,  who  raised  up 
friends  to  help  her.  And  as  she  was  indus- 
trious and  strong,  she  maintained  herself  and 
her  two  fatherless  children  in  comfort,  until 
Peter  was  able  to  work.  This  was  when  he 
was  not  more  than  nine  years  old ;  and  his 
work,  like  that  of  all  the  men  and  boys  about 
him,  was  a  long  way  under  ground  —  "  down 
in  a  mine." 

The  home  in  which  Peter  and  his  mother 
and  sister  lived  was  one  of  a  row  of  mean- 
looking  cottages,  in  a  large  village,  built  near 
a  coal  mine.  It  was  not  very  inviting  in  ap- 
pearance. Indeed,  the  entire  village  would 
have  seemed  singularly  uncomfortable  to  any 
person  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  that 
part  of  the  country,  at  the  time  of  which  I 
am  writing.  The  street  or  road  between  the 
rows  of  houses  was  unpaved  and  undrained ; 
there  were  no  pretty  flower  gardens  in  front 
of  the  cottages,  and  very  few  gardens  of  any 
sort  attached  to  them.  Where  they  might 
have  been  were  heaps  of  dust  and  rubbish, 


PETEE  MORRISON'S  HOME.  19 

cinders  and  coal,  very  few  of  the  cottagers 
having  any  taste  for  rural  employments  and 
enjoyments. 

The  widow  Morrison's  cottage  was,  in  this 
respect,  like  those  of  her  neighbors,  neglected 
and  dirty  in  its  outward  appearance ;  for  she, 
like  them,  had  always  been  used  to  this  state 
of  things,  and  understood  veiy  little  about 
the  superior  comforts  which  might,  perhaps, 
have  been  obtained  by  a  little  labor  and  skill, 
properly  directed. 

But  the  cottage  was  not  destitute  of  com- 
fort either.  It  had  two  rooms,  besides  a  loft 
above  them.  In  one  of  the  rooms,  which  was 
the  living  room,  were  two  good  tables,  one 
of  them  bright  mahogany ;  a  set  of  chairs, 
strong  and  well  polished ;  an  upright  clock,  a 
little  bureau,  and  a  dresser,  well  furnished 
with  earthen  ware  and  japanned  tea  trays. 
In  the  other  room,  which  was  Mrs.  Morrison's 
and  Mary's  sleeping  room,  was  a  good  four- 
post  bedstead,  with  plenty  of  comfortable 
bedding ;  also  a  large  mahogany  chest  of 


20  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

drawers,  and  a  pretty  little  dressing  table  and 
looking-glass.  The  floor  was  neatly  carpeted, 
and  even  the  loft  above,  which  was  Peter's 
bed  chamberj  had  -a  good  many  comfortable 
contrivances,  and,  like  the  rest  of  the  cottage 
inside,  was  always  neat  and  clean. 

I  must  not  forget  to  add,  that,  in  the  living 
room  was  a  little  set  of  book  shelves,  contain- 
ing an  old,  well-worn  pocket  Bible,  which  had 
belonged  to  Peter's  father,  and  which  was 
looked  upon  with  much  reverence  by  the 
widow  and  her  children,  a  hymn  book  or  two, 
a  copy  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  a  few 
other  books  of  a  like  sort ;  and  besides  these, 
on  the  mahogany  table  lay  a  well-bound, 
large  family  Bible,  with  a  good  many  pic- 
tures in  it. 

Thus  far,  then,  I  have  described  Peter  Mor- 
rison's home,  when  he  was  about  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years  of  age ;  and  now  I  have  to  tell 
how  he  spent  Ms  Sunday. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PETER'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL. 

IT  was  six  o'clock ;  and  the  sun,  not  long 
risen,  darted  a  bright  beam  or  two  in  at 
Peter's  casement,  just  as  he  opened  his  eyes 
for  the  first  time.  In  a  moment  he  had 
sprung  out  of  bed,  almost  in  a  fright,  for  he 
did  not  remember,  on  first  waking,  what  day 
it  was  that  had  dawned  upon  him ;  and  his 
dreamy  thought  was,  that  he  had  overslept 
himself,  and  should  get  into  trouble  on  going 
to  his  work.  But  Peter  very  soon  recalled  to 
mind  that  there  was  to  be  no  work  that  day ; 
and  such  a  feeling  of  Sabbath  happiness 
spread  through  his  mind  as  perhaps  none 
experience  so  strongly  as  those  who  work 
hard,  either  with  hands  or  head,  all  other  days 
in  the  week. 

"  I  can  have  another  hour  or  two  of  it,  if  I 

(21) 


22  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

like,"  thought  Peter,  and  he  was  about  to  re- 
turn to  bed,  when  the  hymn  came  into  his 
mind,  — 


'  This  is  the  day  that  Christ  arose 

So  early  from  the  dead ; 
Why  should  I  then  my  eyelids  close, 
And  waste  my  hours  in  bed  ? " 


"  And  I  have  had  sleep  enough,  and  am  not 
tired,"  argued  the  boy ;  so,  resisting  the  temp- 
tation with  a  little  effort,  he  began  to  put  on 
his  clothes. 

Seven  o'clock,  and  the  little  household 
were  seated  at  the  breakfast  table;  and  by 
this  time  Peter  had  refreshed  his  memory  by 
reading  over  the  lessons  he  had  to  repeat  at 
the  Sunday  school.  Let  us  hope,  also,  that 
he  had  not  neglected  to  repeat  the  morning 
prayer  which  he  had  been  taught  in  earlier 
childhood  by  his  pious  mother,  unless,  in- 
deed, he  had  found  words  of  his  own  to  use 
instead. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  appearance  of 
Peter  Morrison  which  would  have  betrayed 


PETEE'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  23 

his  daily  employment.  He  had  washed  away 
all  the  stains  of  this  from  his  person  on  the 
previous  night ;  and  his  clean,  smart  Sunday 
suit  presented  a  great  contrast  to  the  miner's 
every-day  dress. 

When  breakfast  was  finished,  the  widow 
and  her  two  children  got  their  Bibles,  and 
read  two  or  three  Psalms,  verse  by  verse,  in 
turn.  One  of  these  Psalms  was  the  ninety- 
first.  This  was  a  favorite  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture with  Mrs.  Morrison,  because  it  speaks  of 
the  protection  afforded  by  God  to  those  who 
put  their  trust  in  him.  She  knew  quite  well, 
and  Peter  knew  also,  that  there  are  many  and 
great  dangers  in  mining ;  and  it  was  a  source 
of  great  comfort  to  the  poor  widow  to  rest 
assured,  when  her  only  son  was  deep  "  down 
in  a  mine,"  and  exposed  to  those  dangers, 
that  he  was  "under  the  shadow  of  the  Al- 
mighty." Long  before,  she  had  induced  Peter 
to  commit  this  psalm  to  memory,  and  the  boy 
had  often  thought  it  over,  and  repeated  it  to 
himself;  when  at  his  daily  work- 


24  DOWN   IX    A   MINE. 

When  reading  was  finished,  and  Mrs.  Mor- 
rison, with  her  children  kneeling  by  her  side, 
had  offered  a  short  morning  prayer,  it  was 
time  for  Peter  and  Mary  to  start  to  the  Sun- 
day school,  and  they  accordingly  set  out  on 
the  road.  It  was  a  fine  morning  in  early 
summer,  and  there  was  no  appearance  of  de- 
sertion and  desolation  in  the  collier  village, 
for  all  its  inhabitants  were  above  ground. 
And  now  might  have  been  seen  the  difference 
between  those  families  in  which  God  was 
honored,  and  others  where  there  was  no  fear 
of  him.  Those  who  belonged  to  the  first 
were  preparing,  in  an  orderly  and  quiet  way, 
for  the  religious  du-ties  and  pleasures  of  the 
Lord's  day ;  while  those  who  belonged  to  the 
other  class  were  either  carelessly  lounging 
about,  or  were  getting  ready  for  taking  their 
own  pleasure. 

For  instance,  there  were  small  groups  of 
boys  and  girls  going  in  one  direction,  with 
books  in  their  hands,  toward  the  Sunday 
school,  and  passing  others,  who  were  pro 


PETER'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  25 

ceeding  in  other  directions,  fof  play  and 
sport. 

As  Peter  and  Mary  were  passing  by  one  of 
these  idle  parties,  a  boy,  a  little  older  than 
Peter,  called  him  aside. 

"  I  want  you  to  come  with  us,  Peter,"  said 
he,  speaking  in  the  broad  dialect  of  that  part 
of  the  country,  which  I  shall  not  try  to  imi- 
tate ;  "  we  are  going  a  fine  ramble  this 
morning." 

"  I  would  rather  not,  thank  you,  Joe,"  said 
Peter,  stoutly. 

"  If  I  were  you,  I  would  not  keep  going  to 
Sunday  school,"  said  Joe.  "  I  should  think 
you  have  had  enough  of  that.  I  had  when 
I  went." 

"  I  like  it  very  well,"  replied  Peter. 

"  I  suppose  you  like  it  because  you  must," 
rejoined  the  young  tempter.  "  You  go  be- 
cause your  mother  makes  you." 

Peter  did  not  like  this :  he  was  rather 
ashamed  of —  well,  well,  perhaps  not  exactly 
ashamed,  but  he  did  not  like  being  reproached 


26  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

with  obedience  to  his  mother.  He  had  ar- 
rived at  an  age  when  some  boys  —  especially 
those  who  work  hard  to  earn  their  own  living 
—  think  they  ought  to  begin  to  do  as  they 
please,  and  not  to  be  under  such  strict  gov- 
ernment at  home ;  and,  though  Peter  did  not 
exactly  think  this,  he  was  a  little  in  danger 
of  falling  into  the  great  error,  and  of  forget- 
ting what  the  Bible  says :  "  My  son,  hear 
the  instruction  of  thy  father,  and  forsake  not 
the  law  of  thy  mother ;  for  they  shall  be  an 
ornament  of  grace  unto  thy  head,  and  chains 
about  thy  neck."  Peter  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  no  father  now  to  whose  instructions  he 
could  listen;  but  he  had  a  kind  and  pious 
mother,  and  there  was  no  occasion  for  him  to 
be  ashamed  of,  or  to  forsake,  her  law. 

"  My  mother  does  not  make  me  go  to  the 
Sunday  school,"  said  Peter,  rather  blushingly. 

"Doesn't  she,  though?"  retorted  Joseph 
Saville,  with  a  little  scornfumess  in  his  tone. 
Joe  was  not  an  ill-natured  boy,  and  he  and 
Peter  had  a  sort  of  liking  for  each  other; 


PETER'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  27 

they  worked  together  in  the  same  part  of  the 
mine,  and  this  had  brought  them  into  com- 
panionship. It  was  a  great  misfortune  for 
Joe  that  his  parents  were  not  Christians.  To 
be  sure,  they  sometimes  went  to  a  place  of 
worship,  but  they  were  never  eager  to  do 
this,  and  they  permitted  their  children  to  do 
pretty  much  as  they  pleased.  Some  years 
before,  Joe  had  gone  to  the  Sunday  school, 
but  he  got  tired  of  it  after  a  little  time,  and 
preferred  passing  the  hours  of  the  Sabbath  in 
idleness  and  play ;  and  he  could  scarcely  un- 
derstand how  Peter,  or  any  other  boy,  could 
go  to  a  Sunday  school  of  his  own  accord,  and 
without  compulsion. 

"  It  is  too  bad,"  he  continued,  "  to  be  obliged 
to  spend  Sunday  as  you  do,  Peter,  after  being 
down  in  the  pit  all  the  week  long.  I  wonder 
what  Sundays  were  made  for,  if  not  for  such 
as  we  to  enjoy  ourselves  in ;  such  a  fine  day, 
too." 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Peter  was  half 
inclined  to  listen  to  his  companion.  He  for- 


28  DOWX    IX    A    MINE. 

got,  at  the  moment,  how  much  more  real 
enjoyment  he  had  often  experienced  in  the 
quiet  and  orderly  duties  of  the  Lord's  day, 
than  he  believed  was  to  be  found  in  disobey- 
ing God ;  and  though  he  had  learned  to  re- 
peat the  words,  "  Religion  never  was  designed 
to  make  our  pleasures  less,"  the  truth  of  them 
did  not  at  that  moment  come  into  his  mind. 

Joe  Saville  saw  the  advantage  he  had 
gained,  and  he  pressed  Peter,  more  and  more, 
to  go  with  him  instead  of  to  the  Sunday 
school ;  and  Peter  was  on  the  point  of  giving 
way,  partly  because  the  summer's  morning 
was  really  inviting,  and  partly  to  prove  that 
he  was  not  afraid  of  his  mother's  anger, 
though  he  knew  that  she  would  be  grieved. 
But  at  this  instant  a  short  text  came  into  his 
mind ;  it  was  one  which  he  had  learned  and 
repeated  the  Sunday  before  from  a  little  re- 
ward ticket :  "  My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee, 
consent  thou  not." 

Peter  turned  very  red  when  he  remembered 
this.  "No,  no,"  said  he,  hastily,  "I  can  not 


PETEB'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  '29 

go  with  you,  Joe ;  1  would  rather  not ; "  and, 
without  staying  to  parley  any  longer,  he 
hurried  away  after  his  sister,  and  presently 
reached  the  school  without  any  further  im- 
pediment. This  was  a  simple  incident,  and 
scarcely  worth  telling,  perhaps,  except  that 
both  Peter  Morrison  and  Joe  Saville  had  it 
brought  very  forcibly  to  their  minds  by  the 
events  of  the  coming  week. 

I  might  go  on  to  tell  particularly  how  Peter 
spent  the  whole  of  this  Sunday;  what  he 
learned  and  what  he  heard  in  the  school  that 
morning;  and  how,  in  the  afternoon,  he  ac- 
companied his  mother  and  sister  to  public 
worship,  and  heard  a  sermon  preached  from 
the  solemn  words,  "  Prepare  to  meet  thy 
God,"  (Amos  iv.  12),  which  made  a  deep  im- 
pression on  his  mind  —  the  more  so,  because 
the  minister  affectionately  reminded  his  hear- 
ers of  the  peculiar  dangers  of  their  occupa- 
tion, and  the  probability  that  some  among 
them  might  be  hurried  into  eternity  without 
a  moment's  warning.  Peter  knew  how  true 


30  *  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

this  was,  and  it  made  him  thoughtful;  and 
not  him  only. 

But  I  must  pass  over  these  particulars,  and 
tell  only  that,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  Peter 
was  not  at  all  sorry  that  he  had  not  consented 
to  the  enticements  of  Joe  Saville.  He  was 
refreshed  with  rest;  his  mind  had  been  in- 
structed ;  he  had  heard  and  learned  some 
things  which,  if  remembered,  would  be  of 
lasting  benefit  to  him ;  he  had  enjoyed  the 
society  of  his  mother  and  sister  at  home ; 
and  in  a  quiet  afternoon  walk  with  them,  he 
had  had  as  much  exercise,  and  free  air,  and 
beautiful  sunshine,  as  would  serve  him,  he 
knew,  for  pleasant  remembrance  all  the  rest 
of  the  week,  while  down  in  the  dark  mine. 

Meanwhile,  Joe  Saville,  who  had  spent  the 
day  not  only  in  long  and  idle  roaming  with 
companions,  many  of  them  more  thoughtless 
than  himself,  but  also  in  boisterous  sports, 
returned  home  at  night  as  wearied  as  he  often 
had  been  with  a  day's  labor,  and  dissatisfied 
as  well. 


PETER'S  SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  31 

lie  had  had  no  true  pleasure,  and  he  had 
learned  only  what  would  have  a  tendency  to 
injure  his  mind. 

It  was  much  the  same  with  the  other  people 
of  this  collier  village.  Those  who  had  called 
the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord, 
honorable,  and  had  honored  him  by  honoring 
his  day,  were  far  happier  at  its  close  than 
those  who  had  been  spending  the  day  in  seek- 
ing their  own  sensual  gratifications.  It  is  so 
always,  and  every  where,  and  in  every  class 
of  society.  Christians  can  say,  every  time 
Sunday  comes  round,  "This  is  the  day  which 
the  Lord  hath  made ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be 
glad  in  it."  Ps.  cxviii.  24.  And,  "I  was 
glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord."  Ps.  cxxii.  1.  And 
they  can  add,  "  How  amiable  are  thy  taber- 
nacles, O  Lord  of  hosts!  Blessed  are  they 
that  dwell  in  thy  house.  I  had  rather  be  a 
doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  my  God,  than  to 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness."  Ps.  Ixxxiv. 
1,  4,  10.  While,  to  others,  the  same  day 


32  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

brings  vexation  and  weariness,  and  often  lays 
the  foundation  for  future  misery.  So  true  is 
it  that  — 


"  A  Sabbath  well  spent 

Brings  a  week  of  content, 
And  health  for  the  toils  of  the  morrow  ; 

But  a  Sabbath  profaned, 

Whate'er  may  be  gained, 
IB  a  certain  forerunner  of  sorrow." 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    COAL   MIXES. 

IT  was  not  quite  dark,  for  the  moon  was 
high  in  the  heavens;  but  the  sun  had  not 
risen,  and  would  not  rise  for  another  hour  or 
more,  when  Peter  Morrison  dressed  himself, 
and  was  ready  for  his  day's  work.  A  break- 
fast hastily  eaten,  and  prepared  for  him  by  his 
mother,  who  was  up  before  him ;  his  day's 
provisions  put  up  in  a  bag,  for  him  to  take 
down  into  the  mine ;  and  a  few  words  spoken 
to  him  by  his  mother,  and  spoken  also  for  him, 
to  God  in  prayer  —  all  this  occupied  but  a 
short  time,  and  then  Peter  mixed  with  a  crowd 
of  pitmen  and  boys  who  were  all  hurrying 
on  to  the  mouth  of  the  mine  or  coal  pit. 

Any  one  who  had  only  seen  these  men  in 
their  Sunday  clothes  on  the  previous  day 
would  scarcely  have  known  them  again  in 
3  (33)  . 


34  DOWN   IN    A    MINE. 

their  working  dresses,  made  of  coarse  flannel, 
and  black  with  coal  dust.  They  knew  each 
other,  however;  and  Peter  Morrison  soon 
joined  himself  to  a  small  party  who  worked 
in  the  same  part  of  the  mine  with  himself: 
among  these  was  Joe  Saville. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  reach  the  mouth  of 
the  pit ;  and  then  began  the  work  of  lowering 
these  men  and  boys  into  the  mine.  Let  me 
describe  this :  or  shall  I  ask  some  one  who 
has  gone  down  into  a  coal  mine  as  a  visitor  to 
describe  it  ?  I  think  that  will  be  best.  These 
are  pretty  nearly  his  words :  — 

"  How  were  we  to  get  down  ?  We  saw  a 
great  hole  in  the  ground  pitchy  dark,  and 
above  it  a  windlass,  or  some  kind  of  machin- 
ery for  lowering  and  raising  great  weights. 
From  this  hung  a  chain  and  at  the  end  of 
that  a  large  basket. 

"We  fixed  ourselves  in  the  basket,  stand- 
ing with  our  hands  grasping  the  chain ;  the 
word  was  given,  and  down  we  glided  with  a 
smooth  motion  into  what  looked  like  a  well, 


THE    COAL   MINES.  35 

about  six  feet  across  and  boarded  all  round. 
I  kept  my  eyes  fixed  on  the  opening  above, 
which  seemed  to  become  smaller  and  smaller, 
till  at  a  vast  depth  I  was  obliged  to  look 
down,  as  my  head  grew  dizzy,  and  small 
pieces  of  coal  and  drops  of  water  struck  with 
unpleasant  force  against  my  face. 

"  As  we  descended  lower  all  became  dark- 
ness ;  the  noise  over  our  heads  grew  gradually 
more  indistinct  till  it  died  away,  and  a  gloomy 
silence  ensued,  broken  only  occasionally  by 
the  grating  of  the  basket  against  the  walls. 

"At  length,  after  a  descent  of  nearly  six 
hundred  feet,  I  heard  the  voices  of  men  below 
me,  and  presently  I  perceived  two  dim  lights. 
These  were  at  the  High  Eye,  formerly  at  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft,  on  a  level  with  which  is  a 
great  extent  of  the  workings.  I  asked  no 
questions  here.  '  Steady  the  basket ! '  cried 
our  guide ;  and  in  a  moment  we  were  again 
in  utter  darkness.  In  a  quarter  of  a  minute 
more  I  heard  other  voices  below  me,  the  bas- 
ket stopped,  and  we  soon  found  ourselves  on 
our  feet  at  the  bottom." 


3b  DOWN  IN   A  MINE. 

This  is  a  gentleman's  description  of  how  he 
"  went  down  in  a  mine,"  and  I  suppose  none 
of  my  young  readers  feel  disposed  to  envy 
him  his  journey  in  a  basket.  But  use  recon- 
ciles us  to  many  strange  things,  and  Peter 
Morrison  had  become  so  accustomed  to  this 
mode  of  reaching  his  work,  that  he  thought 
or  cared  very  little  about  it.  He  had  not 
always  the  convenience  of  a  basket  to  descend 
in,  however.  It  was  not  unusual  for  him  to  go 
down  into  the  mine  in  another  way,  such  as 
this :  — 

"Two  men,  or  boys,  are  about  to  descend; 
they  make  a  loop  in  the  lower  end  of  a  rope, 
and  each  man  thrusts  one  leg  into  this  loop  — 
the  two  clinging  together  in  a  strange  sort  of 
perilous  brotherhood.  The  windlass.-  to  which 
the  rope  is  attached  is  then  set  to  work,  and 
the  two  men  are  lowered  to  the  bottom  of 
the  pit.  If  the  rope  should  break,  or  the  loop 
should  become  unfastened,  they  would  of 
course  be  killed  by  the  dreadful  fall ;  but  they 
give  no  thought  to  this. 


THE    COAL   MINES.  37 

"  Sometimes  there  are  two  ropes  in  one  pit, 
one  ascending  and  the  other  descending ;  the 
two  human  loads  meeting  each  other  half  way. 
In  some  pits  there  are  more  couples  than  one 
thus  clinging  to  the  rope  at  the  same  time. 

"Another  plan  of  going  down  into  a  coal 
pit  is  by  means  of  a  large  iron  tub,  which 
holds  eight  or  ten  persons ; "  —  and  you  may 
fancy,  young  reader,  what  a  strong,  as  well  as 
long  rope  is  required  to  do  this  work  with 
safety  to  the  miners. 

Well,  it  was  in  one  or  other  of  these  meth- 
ods that  Peter  Morrison  and  his  companions 
reached  the  bottom  of  the  mine  on  the  Monday 
morning  of  our  story.  It  did  not  take  long; 
in  less  than  half  an  hour  the  ground  above 
was  cleared,  and  work  was  commenced  below. 
But  now  that  I  have  described  the  way  down, 
I  must  say  a  little  about  the  mine  itself. 

A  coal  mine  is  not  simply  a  pit  with  coal  at 
the  bottom  of  it ;  the  pit  is  merely  an  en- 
trance, with  passages,  or  galleries,  cut  out 
from  it  in  every  direction,  to  a  great  distance. 


38  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

These  galleries  are  like  the  streets  of  a  large 
town,  for  they  meet  and  cross  each  other;  and 
in  some  large  mines  there  are  many  miles  of 
them.  To  the  right  and  left  of  these  galleries 
are  what  are  called  "workings;"  these  are 
hollow  places,  or  caves,  out  of  which  the  coal  is 
dug ;  they  are  narrow,  and  extend  a  long  dis- 
tance back,  while  the  spaces  between  them 
are  left  so  as  to  prevent  the  danger  of  the  roof 
falling  in  and  crushing  the  poor  miners. 

I  must  explain  also,  that,  besides  the  larger 
galleries,  there  are  passages  from  one  part  of 
a  coal  mine  to  another,  which  are  so  low  that 
no  one  can  pass  through  them  walking  up- 
right. In  getting  the  coal  from  these  pas- 
sages the  pitmen  have  to  work  in  a  stooping 
posture,  or  sometimes  lying  along  on.  their 
backs.  This  work,  you  may  be  sure,  is  very 
fatiguing,  and  dangerous  also. 

Through  these  passages,  the  coal,  when  it 
is  obtained,  has  to  be  conveyed  in  small  caits, 
or  square  wooden  tubs,  on  low  wheels,  from 
one  part  of  the  mine  to  another  until  it  has 


THE    COAL    MINES.  39 

reached  the  bottom  of  the  opening,  when  it 
is  drawn  up  by  the  same  machinery  which  is 
used  for  the  pitmen  themselves. 

One  more  word  about  these  low  passages. 
It  is  necessary  to  keep  them  constantly  closed; 
and  for  this  purpose  they  are  provided  with 
trap  doors.  But  as  these  doors  require  to  be 
frequently  opened  to  allow  the  carts,  or  tubs, 
or  corves,  as  they  are  called,  to  pass  through, 
means  have  to  be  taken  for  their  immediately 
closing  again.  What  these  means  are  I  shall 
very  soon  tell. 

But  is  it  not  very  dark  "  down  in  a  mine," 
so  far  under  ground  ?  Very  dark  indeed ;  no 
daylight  ever  reaches  the  galleries  and  pas- 
sages, and  all  the  work  is  done  by  the  dim. 
light  of  candles  and  lamps.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  the  miners,  when  released  from  their  oc- 
cupation, enjoy  not  only  the  bright  sunshine, 
but  the  gloomiest  day  above,  which  is  cheer- 
ing and  pleasant  compared  with  the  thick 
darkness  below. 

And  now,  having  so  far  described  a  coal 
mine,  we  will  go  back  to  Peter  Morrison. 


40  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

I  have  said  that  Peter  began  to  work  in 
the  mine  when  he  was  not  more  than  nine 
years  old;  and  you  may  wonder  what  such  a 
little  fellow  could  do  there.  Well,  first  of  all, 
he  was  a  trapper,  and  this  was  his  employ- 
ment :  He  had  to  sit  all  day  long  in  a  little 
black  hole,  scooped  out  in  one  of  the  low, 
narrow  passages  just  beside  a  trap  door,  and 
all  he  had  to  do  was  to  pull  the  door  open 
with  a  cord  he  held  in  his  hand  every  time  he 
heard  a  corve  rumbling  along,  and  then,  the 
moment  it  had  passed  through,  to  let  the  door 
shut  again,  which  it  did  by  its  own  weight. 

This  was  not  very  hard  work,  perhaps ;  but 
it  was  extremely  tedious,  and  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  Peter's  day's  work  was  very  long  at 
this  early  period  of  his  life.  He  had  to  be 
at  his  post  every  morning  at  four  o'clock,  sum- 
mer and  winter  alike,  and  he  did  not  leave  it 
till  six  in  the  evening,  so  that  he  was  fourteen 
hours  every  day  "  down  in  a  mine,"  and  never 
saw  daylight  except  for  an  hour  or  two  on 
summer  evenings  and  on  Sundays.  I  am  sor- 


THE    COAL   MINES.  41 

ry,  too,  to  add,  that  not  only  little  boys  of  nine 
years  old,  but  little  girls  even  yet  younger, 
were  in  those  days  employed  as  trappers.  It 
was  not  quite  right  and  proper,  I  think,  to 
take  such  little  ones  "  down  in  a  mine,"  and 
make  them  sit  in  the  dark  so  many  hours  in  a 
day,  though  the  work  might  not  be  in  itself 
hard.  Mrs.  Morrison  thought  so  too,  and  her 
little  daughter  Mary  was  kept  above  ground. 
Yes,  it  was  tiresome,  tedious  work,  this 
trapping.  The  only  change  Peter  could  have, 
while  thus  employed,  was  sometimes  to  slip 
out  into  the  larger  galleries  to  see,  as  well  as 
he  could,  what  was  going  on  there;  but  he 
did  not  dare  to  leave  his  floor  long  at  a  time, 
for  fear  of  being  wanted  to  open  it  when  he 
was  away.  His  best  amusement  was  to  think 
over  all  he  had  learned  at  the  Sunday  school, 
or  from  his  mother  at  home,  and  sometimes 
to  sing  to  himself  the  hymns  he  had  com- 
mitted to  memory.  But  it  is  no  wonder  that, 
do  what  he  might,  these  early  days  of  his 
"  down  in  a  mine  "  seemed  long  and  dreary ; 


42  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

and  you  may  be  sure  that  Peter  was  not  sor- 
ry when  he  was  said  to  be  strong  enough  to 
leave  off  trapping,  and  take  to  hurrying  or 
putting,  which  is  the  next  employment  to 
which  children  are  put  in  the  mines. 

This  employment  consists  in  pushing  or 
dragging  the  corves  along  the  passages  just 
described.  This  is  hard  work,  for  the  corves 
are  heavy  when  laden  with  coal,  and  the  pas- 
sages, as  I  have  said,  are  so  low,  that  in  some 
parts  even  boys  can  not  stand  upright  in  them. 
Indeed,  boys  could  not  perform  this  work  at 
all,  if  iron  rails  were  not  laid  down  for  the 
wheels  to  run  upon. 

Sometimes  a  putter  has  to  drag  these 
weights  alone;  but  generally  there  is  one 
before  to  pull,  and  another  behind  to  push. 
This  was  how  Peter  Morrison  and  Joe  Saville 
h;id  come  to  work  together;  and  in  this  way 
they  were  occupied  day  after  day,  conveying 
the  coal  from  the  workings  in  one  part  of  the 
mine  to  another  part  of  it,  whence  it  was 
drawn  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  pit. 


THE    COAL    MIXES.  43 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  any  of  the  hardships 
which  Peter  had  to  undergo  in  this  mode' of 
life,  and  certainly  they  were  not  few;  but, 
whatever  they  were,  he  was  not  dissatisfied 
with  the  change  from  trapping.  It  was  a 
more  active  occupation,  and  he  had  a  com- 
panion with  whom  he  could  now  and  then 
exchange  a  few  words.  Besides  this,  it 
brought  him  into  intercourse  with  the  pitmen 
at  different  parts  of  the  mine;  and  though 
these  men  were  rough  in  their  manners,  they 
were  not  unkind  to  him.  Indeed,  many  of 
them,  as  I  have  said,  were  pious  men,  disci- 
ples of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  teaches  men  to  be  kind  to  all, 
especially  to  the  weak. 

At  the  time  of  our  story,  Peter  Morrison 
was  still  employed  with  Joe  Saville  as  a  put- 
ter ;  but  he  was  looking  forward  to  being  a 
hewer.  Hewing,  or  coal  digging,  is  man's 
work,  and  needs  a  man's  strength.  Indeed, 
the  labor  of  the  mines,  from  first  to  last,  is 
very  fatiguing,  and  sometimes  quite  distress- 


44  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

ing.  Those  of  us  who  sit  by  a  cheerful  coal 
fire,  with  many  comforts  and  luxuries  around, 
do  not  always  think  of,  and  many  of  us  do 
not  really  know,  all  the  toils  of  those  who 
provide  us  with  our  means  of  enjoyment. 
Think,  young  reader,  of  the  little  trapper  sit- 
ting in  the  dark  so  many  hours  every  day, 
with  no  companions  to  cheer  him ;  think  of 
the  young  putter,  pulling  or  pushing  with  all 
his  might,  heavy  loads  through  dark,  narrow 
passages,  deep  "  down  in  a  mine,"  until  he  has 
accomplished  his  seven,  eight,  or  ten  miles  a 
day,  and  is  so  weaiy  that,  when  released  from 
his  day's  work,  he  can  scarcely  crawl  from  the 
pit's  mouth  to  his  mother's  cottage,  and  some- 
times falls  asleep  as  he  is  being  drawn  up  from 
the  mine  ;  think  again  of  the  hewer,  creeping 
often  on  hands  and  knees  to  his  work,  and 
obliged  to  lie  on  his  back  as  he  wields  his  pick 
to  loosen  the  coal  from  its  bed  ;  and  think  of 
all  these  working  year  after  year  without  any 
change,  and  knowing  little  or  nothing  of  the 
many  beautiful  scenes  of  nature  on  the  surface 

i 


THE    COAL    MINES.  45 

of  the  earth,  and  you  will  be  more  thankful, 
perhaps,  than  you  sometimes  are,  for  the  bless- 
ings you  are  permitted  to  enjoy,  and  less  dis- 
posed to  repine  at  what  you  suppose  to  be  the 
disadvantages  of  your  lot  in  life. 

But  I  would  have  you  think  also  that  the 
poor  pitmen,  and  the  young  people  who  work 
so  hard  "  down  in  a  mine,"  are  far  happier  in 
their  souls  than  you  can  possibly  be,  if  they 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  you  do  not. 
Ah,  many  a  little  .trapper  and  putter  and  hard 
working  pitman  have  known  and  do  know  a 
great  deal  about  that  "joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory,"  which  arises  from  a  good  hope, 
through  grace,  that  their  sins  are  pardoned, 
and  that,  being  washed  in  the  atoning  blood 
of  Christ,  and  made  holy  by  the  influences  of 
God's  blessed  Spirit,  they  are  on  the  way  to 
heaven.  And  in  the  deepest,  darkest,  dreari- 
est galleries  and  passages  of  a  coal  mine  this 
song  has,  I  have  no  doubt,  often  been  sung, 
not  with  the  lip  and  tongue  only,  but  from 
the  glad  heart :  — 


46  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 


u  Thy  shining  grace  can  cheer 

This  dungeon  where  I  dwell ;       • 
'Tis  paradise  if  thou  art  here  j 
If  thou  depart  'tis  hell. 

"  The  smiling  of  thy  face, 
How  amiable  they  are ! 
'Tis  heaven  to  rest  in  thine  embrace, 
And  nowhere  else  but  there. 

"  Nor  earth,  nor  all  the  sky, 
Can  one  delight  afford  ; 
No,  not  a  drop  of  real  joy, 
Without  thy  presence,  Lord  ! 

"  To  thee  my  spirits  fly 

With  infinite  desire  j 
And  yet  how  far  from  thee  1  lie : 
Dear  Jesus,  raise  ine  higher." 


But  I  must  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close ;  so 
I  will  only  add  that  the  work  in  the  mine 
went  on  steadily  all  day.  Peter  Morrison  and 
Joseph  Saville  were  employed  in  dragging  and 
pushing  corves  of  coal  from  a  working  at  a 
distant  part  of  the  mine,  where  two  pitmen 
were  heaving.  They  left  off  labor  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  day,  to  have  their  dinner  and  to 
rest  for  an  hour ;  and  then  they  commenced 
again.  All  the  light  they  had  was  from  the 
dull  candles  which  here  and  there  were  burn- 


THE    COAL   MINES.  47 

ing  in  the  galleries  and  workings,  or  wherever 
the  pitmen  were  employed;  and  they  were 
glad  when  the  time  came  for  them  to  be  drawn 
up  to  the  mouth  of  the  pit  by  the  same  ma- 
chinery which  let  them  down  in  the  morning. 
Arrived  at  home,  Peter  was  ready  for  his 
supper;  but  before  he  could  enjoy  this,  he 
took  care  to  wash  himself  well  from  the  stains 
of  his  day's  black  occupation,  and  to  change 
his  clothes.  Indeed,  this  is  a  common  prac- 
tice with  all  who  work  in  coal  mines.  "  Every 
man  or  boy,  immediately  on  coming  from  the 
pit,  has  a  thorough  washing  (for  the  pitmen, 
to  their  credit  be  it  said,  have  the  character 
of  being  personally  clean  when  not  at  work, 
whatever  their  villages  or  houses  may  be), 
and  then  either  changes  his  dress,  or  partakes 
of  a  meal,  and  then  goes  to  bed.  The  flannel 
dress,  too,  in  which  the  pit  work  is  done,  has 
to  be  subjected  pretty  frequently  to  the  action 
of  soap  and  water." 

And  so  the  day's  work  was  over,  and  Peter 


48  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

was  glad  now  to  take  his  way  to  the  little 
loft  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  repose,  and  to  gain 
strength  for  the  toils  of  the  morrow.  Soon, 
too,  the  whole  collier  village  was  dark  and  si- 
lent ;  and  if  any  one  had  strolled  beyond  it  to 
look  around  him,  he  would  have  seen  nothing 
but  the  huge  fires,  with  their  overhanging 
canopy  of  black  smoke,  spoken  of  in  our  first 
chapter,  and  which  rose  from  the  waste  coal 
dust  consumed  near  the  mouths  of  the  ]>its, 
and  the  furnaces  which  drove  the  machinery 
by  which  the  coal  was  daily  raised  from  the 
mines. 


CHAPTER    IV: 

THE  "CRUSH." 

BEFORE  we  enter  upon  the  occurrences  of 
another  day,  I  must  say  a  little  about  the 
dangers  to  which  those  who  work  "  down  in 
a  mine  "  are  continually  exposed. 

These  dangers  are  many  and  fearful. 

There  is,  for  instance,  some  danger  in  de- 
scending into  the  mine,  and  in  coming  up  out 
of  it ;  for  if  the  long  rope  or  the  chain  should 
break,  or  the  machinery  go  wrong,  the  result 
would  be  instant  death  to  the  poor  miner. 
But  these  accidents  do  not  often  happen. 
The  greatest  dangers  are  in  the  mine  itself. 

One  of  these  arises  from  what  is  called 
choke-damp.  This  is  foul  air,  or  gas,  which 
suffocates  any  one  who  breathes  it ;  and  then 
death  instantly  follows.  All  coal  mines  are 
more  or  less  liable  to  this  destructive  gas,  and 
4  <«) 


50  DOWN   IN    A   MINE 

the  way  in  which  this  danger  is  partly  pre- 
vented is  by  forcing  a  large  supply  of  fresh 
air  constantly  into  the  mines,  and  causing  it 
to  circulate  there,  so  as  to  drive  before  it 
these  deadly  vapors,  and  enable  the  miners  to 
breathe  purer  air  from  the  upper  world  than 
could  otherwise  ever  be  found  "down  in  a 
mine." 

Another  danger  arises  from  what  is  called 
fire-damp,  which  is  a  kind  of  gas  that  takes 
fire  when  a  flame  approaches  it,  and  explodes 
like  gunpowder.  Very  many  dreadful  acci- 
dents have  been  caused  by  this  gas,  and  hun- 
dreds of  lives  have  been  lost  in  these  explo- 
sions. There  is,  indeed,  such  constant  danger 
from  this  source,  that  it  is  forbidden  to  carry 
a  candle,  with  its  flame  exposed,  into  the 
workings ;  and  the  miners  use  a  lamp  inclosed 
in  a  lantern  of  fine  wire  gauze,  through  which 
the  flame  does  not  penetrate.  This  kind  of 
light  is  called  a  Davy  lamp,  from  the  name  of 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  the  person  who  invented 
it,  and  many  lives  have  been  saved  by  its  use. 


THE  "CRUSH."  51 

But  although  the  danger  has  been  much  les- 
sened since  these  lamps  were  introduced  into 
coal  pits,  it  is  not  entirely  removed. 

Another  danger  to  which  the  miners  are 
exposed  is  from  floods  of  water.  Some  coal 
pits  are  more  liable  to  this  danger  than  others. 
The  young  reader  will  understand  how  acci- 
dents of  this  nature  happen,  if  they  will  bear 
in  mind  that  the  earth  beneath  us  has  water 
springs,  and  that  these  must  sometimes  be  cut 
through  in  digging  for  coal.  Then,  of  course, 
the  water  bursts  out  and  pours  into  the  mine. 
This  is,  in  general,  got  rid  of  by  keeping 
powerful  pumps  constantly  at  work;  but  if 
any  thing  happens  so  that  these  pumps  get 
out  of  order,  or  from  any  cause  cease  drawing 
the  water  away,  it  rapidly  increases  until  the 
galleries,  and  passages,  and  workings  are  filled 
up  with  it.  There  are  also  many  coal  mines 
which  have,  for  some  reason  or  other,  been 
deserted ;  and  these,  in  process  of  time,  be- 
come filled  with  water,  and  sometimes  this 
water  makes  a  passage  for  itself  to  a  coal  pit 


52  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

in  full  work,  and  all  at  once  it  rushes  in  in  an 
overwhelming  flood,  carrying  every  thing  be- 
fore it,  and  drowning  all  the  poor  miners  who 
are  unhappily  at  work,  before  any  means  can 
be  taken  for  their  rescue. 

•  These  accidents  *|re  very  fearful  when  they 
take  place ;  and  by  choke-damp,  fire-damp, 
and  floods,  or  inundations,  almost  half  the 
people  of  some  collier  villages  have  been 
destroyed  in  a  day,  and,  indeed,  we  may  say 
in  an  instant.  You  see,  therefore,  how  appro- 
priate was  the  text  to  which  Peter  Morrison 
and  others  had  listened  on  the  previous  Sun- 
day, and  how  much  reason  the  inhabitants  of 
these  villages  have  to  think  often  of  what  is 
said  in  one  of  the  Psalms,  because  it  is  so 
applicable  to  themselves  :  "  Thou  tumest  man 
to  destruction,  and  sayest,  Return,  ye  children 
of  men.  .  .  .  Thou  earnest  them  away  as  with 
a  flood ;  they  are  as  a  sleep :  in  the  morning 
they  are  like  grass  which  groweth  up  ;  in  the 
morning  it  flourisheth  and  groweth  up ;  in  the 
evening  it  is  cut  down,  and  withereth."  And 


THE    "CKUSH."  53 

how  wise  and  suitable  is  it  for  them  (as,  in- 
deed, it  is  for  all)  to  adopt  the  prayer  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  same  Psalm :  "  So  teach 
us  to  number  our  days  that  we  may  apply 
our  hearts  unto  wisdom."  See  Psalm  xc. 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  these  accidents  in 
coal  mines  are  not  so  frequent  as  they  were 
at  one  time  a  long  while  ago,  or  even  as  they 
were  when  Peter  Morrison  was  a  boy,  because 
many  skillful  plans  have  been  contrived  and 
adopted  for  lessening  the  various  dangers  to 
which  the  miners  are  exposed.  But  even 
now,  coal  mining  is  a  hazardous  employment. 

But  I  have  not  yet  told  all  their  dangers. 
There  is  an  accident  of  a  very  serious  nature, 
to  which  all  collieries  are  liable,  and  which 
has  ruined  several.  This  is  called  a  crush,  or 
a  sitt. 

In  digging  out  coal,  the  hewers  are,  or 
should  be,,  careful  to  leave  thick  pillars  of  it 
between  the  workings,  to  support  the  roof 
above ;  but  when  these  pillars  are  left  so 
small  —  as  they  sometimes  are  —  as  to  yield 


54  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

under  tlie  weight,  or  when  the  pavement  of 
coal  is  so  soft  as  to  permit  the  pillars  to  sink 
into  it,  the  solid  roof  breaks  and  falls  in, 
crushes  the  pillars  to  pieces,  and  closes  up  a 
great  extent  of  the  workings,  or  probably  the 
whole  pit. 

Sometimes  such  an  accident  as  this  happens 
without  any  warning,  and  then  many  lives 
may  be  lost,  either  by  the  roof  falling  in  upon 
the  miners,  and  crushing  them  with  its  dread- 
ful weight,  or  by  imprisoning  them  in  some 
distant  workings,  where  they  must  perish 
before  help  can  reach  them.  It  was  an  acci- 
dent of  this  nature  which  happened  in  the 
coal  pit  in  which  Peter  Morrison  worked  as  a 


It  was  on  the  Tuesday  morning  of  Our 
story  that,  as  the  pitmen  were  busily  at  work, 
they  were  alarmed  by  a  noise  louder,  they 
thought,  than  the  loudest  thunder  they  had 
ever  heard ;  and  the  next  moment  every  lamp 
was  extinguished,  while  choking  clouds  of 
dust,  driven  toward  them  by  a  powerful  gust 
of  air,  increased  the  terror  they  felt. 


THE    "CKUSH."  55 

The  miners  knew  what  that  dreadful  noise 
meant,  and  as  soon  as  they  had  breath  to 
speak,  they  cried  out  to  one  another,  as  they 
hurried  along  the  galleries  toward  the  en- 
trance to  the  pit,  that  the  mine  was  falling  in 
with  a  crush. 

Again  and  again  the  loud  rumbling  noise 
was  heard,  while  the  earth  seemed  to  be 
shaken  with  it ;  and  then,  from  all  parts  of 
the  mine,  came  running  the  hewers,  and  put- 
ters, and  little  trappers,  to  escape,  if  possible, 
the  fearful  death  to  which  they  seemed  to  be 
that  moment  exposed.  The  men  had  thrown 
away  their  tools,  the  putters  had  left  their 
loaded  corves  in  the  passages,  and  the  little 
trappers  had  forsaken  their  trap  doors,  and  all 
had  groped  their  way  in  the  dark  toward  the 
larger,  more  open  galleries ;  and  all  continued 
running  from  the  crush,  wherever  it  might  be, 
bent  on  self-preservation,  if  that  were  possible. 

And  it  was  possible.  Terrible  as  the  acci- 
dent was,  it  was  not  so  terrible  as  it  might 
have  been ;  and  presently  lights  were  struck, 


56  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

and  load  after  load  of  frightened  miners  was 
drawn  rapidly  to  the  ground  above,  until 
there  seemed  to  be  no  more  to  be  rescued. 

But  when  they  were  all  gathered  together 
at  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  and  were  called 
over,  five,  who  had  gone  down  that  morning 
into  the  mine,  were  found  to  be  missing. 
These  were  two  hewers,  two  putters,  and  one 
little  trapper. 

"James  Freeman.  Where  is  he?"  "Not 
here :  and  his  mate,  Bill  Logan,  he  is  not  here 
either:  and  Joe  Saville  and  Peter  Morrison, 
they  are  not  here :  and  Robert  Lester,  the  lit- 
tle trapper,  he  is  not  here." 

This  discovery  was  soon  made,  and  repeated 
from  mouth  to  mouth ;  but  even  before  then, 
the  women  and  children  of  the  collier  village 
had  flocked  to  the  pit's  mouth  in  alarm,  for 
they  knew  that  something  fearful  had  hap- 
pened, though  what  it  was  they  did  not  know. 

And  then,  when  the  discovery  was  made  of 
these  missing  ones,  rose  a  shriek  of  distress, 
repeated  again  and  again  —  such  shrieks  as  I 


THE    "  CRUSH.75  57 

hope  my  young  readers  may  never  hear — 
shrieks  from  the  wives  and  little  ones  of  the 
two  lost  pitmen,  and  from  the  mothers  of  Jo- 
seph Saville  and  Robert  Lester,  and  a  cry, 
very  pitiful,  from  the  widow  Morrison  and 
her  little  daughter.  And  no  wonder  that 
these  poor  creatures  all  cried  out  in  sore  dis- 
tress; for  what  could  be  expected  but  that 
these  missing  ones  had  been  crushed  beneath 
the  fallen-in  roof  of  the  mine?  Indeed,  it 
seemed  almost  certain  that  this  was  the  case ; 
for  now  that  the  miners  had  time  to  collect 
themselves,  and  to  think  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, they  all  agreed  that  the  crush  which 
they  had  heard  was  in  that  part  of  the  mine 
where  these  poor  companions  of  theirs  were 
working. 

What  was  to  be  done?  Do  not  imagine, 
young  reader,  that  the  pitmen  were  so  heart- 
less and  selfish  as  to  be  satisfied  with  their 
own  safety,  when  others  had  apparently  per- 
ished. Indeed,  there  was  yet  a  hope,  though 
a  faint  one,  that  their  fellow-workmen  and  the 


58  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

boys  might  be  safe,  or  could  yet  be  saved; 
and  though  all  had  been  in  a  hurry  to  leave 
the  mine  when  the  crush  took  place,  they 
were  all  ready  and  anxious  to  go  down  into  it 
again  when  there  was  a  reason  for  it.  So  the 
poor  wives  and  mothers  were  bidden  to  be  of 
good  cheer,  for  their  husbands  and  children 
should  be  rescued  if  possible;  and  then  a 
score  or  more  of  brave  men  descended  the 
pit,  accompanied  by  the  manager  or  head  man 
of  the  mine. 

They  soon  lighted  their  candles  when  they 
reached  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  and  then  they 
proceeded  through  the  galleries  for  a  long 
distance  till  they  came  to  the  place  where  the 
accident  had  happened.! 

Oh,  what  a  ruin  there  was!  The  gallery 
was  filled  up  and  choked  with  the  heavy 
masses  which  had  fallen  in :  above,  so  far  as 
they  could  see,  were  overhanging  rocks  yet 
threatening  to  fall,  while  fragments  of  coal, 
and  stone,  and  earth,  continued  to  drop  upon 
the  adventurous  miners  every  minute. 


THE  "CRUSH."  59 

"  If  was  in  the  workings  beyond  litre  that 
Freeman  and  Logan  were  hewing,"  whispered 
a  pitman  to  the  manager;  he  was  afraid  to 
speak  loud. 

"  Is  it  possible  that  they  have  escaped  some 
other  way  ?  "  was  the  thought  that  very  nat- 
urally arose  to  the  minds  of  those  who  were 
searching;  but,  after  a  moment's  considera- 
tion, they  knew  that  this  could  not  be.  Either 
the  poor  men  and  boys  had  been  instantly 
killed  by  the  crush,  or,  what  was  almost  more 
dreadful,  they  were  imprisoned  in  the  work- 
ings or  passages  beyond  —  blocked  in  by  what 
had  fallen,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  with 
solid  walls  of  coal,  so  as  to  render  escape  im- 
possible. 

It  was  very  shocking  to  contemplate.  They 
must  die  —  die  either  by  suffocation  or  by 
starvation.  This  was  the  first  thought ;  but 
the  next  thought  in  the  minds  of  the  heroic 
pitmen  was,  that  if  they  yet  lived  they  should 
be  rescued,  and  that,  come  what  might,  they 
would  not  cease  working  for  the  deliverance 


60  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

of  their  fellow-workmen,  until  assured*  that 
their  further  efforts  would  be  unavailing. 

With  this  determination,  they  hastened 
first  to  recall  the  rest  of  the  miners  to  the 
spot,  and  then  to  arm  themselves  with  proper 
tools ;  and  after  a  few  hours,  all  the  men  were 
working  as  hard  as  they  could  work,  to  clear 
away  the  crush  from  the  galleries,  or  rather, 
to  make  fresh  galleries  through  it.  The  boys 
and  children  were  left  above :  they  would 
only  have  been  in  the  way. 

But  oh,  wrhat  labor  it  was !  and  what  risk 
there  was  also  in  this  work  of  humanity ! 
Every  moment,  they  were  in  danger  of  them- 
selves being  crushed  by  falling  masses  of  rock 
from  above ;  they  were  in  danger,  too,  from 
the  foul  air,  which  might  at  any  moment  put 
an  end  not  only  to  their  exertions,  but  to 
their  lives.  And  presently  there  seemed  to 
be  another  danger  ;  for  water  poured  in  upon 
them  from  above,  so  that  they  soon  had  to 
work  in  it  up  to  their  knees  and  higher;  and 
if  it  continued  to  rise,  they  would  have  to  flee 


THE  "CRUSH."  61 

for  their  own  safety.  Oh,  it  was  very  fearful 
to  be  working  away,  almost  in  the  dark ;  for 
they  dared  have  no  other  lights  than  the  dull 
Davy  lamps,  which  gave,  or  seemed  to  give, 
scarcely  any  light — yes,  it  was  fearful  to  be 
working  away  thus,  surrounded  by  such  per- 
ils, encompassed  with  so  many  threatening 
deaths. 

But  the  pitmen  thought  of  the  men  and 
boys  who  might,  perhaps,  be  saved,  and  of  the 
poor  women  and  families  in  their  village  who 
were  in  such  distress  about  their  husbands 
and  sons ;  and  though  bathed  in  perspira- 
tion, and  ready  to  faint  with  fatigue,  they 
worked  on. 

Means  were  taken,  too,  to  lessen  the  dan- 
gers to  which  they  were  exposed ;  the  water 
was  pumped  away  as  fast  as  it  ran  into  the 
galleries,  and  by  closing  up  some  passages, 
and  opening  others,  fresh  air  was  admitted 
into  the  stifling  gallery  where  the  men  were 
at  work.  Long  before  the  day  had  closed, 
the  news  of  the  disaster  had  spread  to  other 


62  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

villages  and  coal  pits,  and  men  came  flocking 
from  all  quarters  with  offers  of  help,  and 
ready  to  risk  their  own  safety  in  the  sacred 
cause  of  brotherly  love. 

This  help  was  very  acceptable,  you  may  be 
sure,  to  the  poor  pitmen  who  had  been  so 
many  hours  endeavoring  to  clear  away  the 
crush;  but  still  they  lingered,  so  anxious 
were  they  to  be  the  deliverers  of  their  fellow- 
workmen. 

But  who  could  tell  whether  or  not  they 
lived  ?  They  had  called  again  and  again,  but 
no  answer  had  been  returned  to  them.  They 
were  sorrowfully  speaking  about  this,  and  had 
almost  made  up  their  minds  that,  after  all, 
their  labor  would  be  in  vain,  when  — 

"Hark!  Men,  men  !  silence;  leave  off  your 
work;  listen!" 

Yes,  they  heard  something,  —  they  hold- 
ing their  breath  the  while,  and  not  moving 
even  a  finger.  The  something  they  heard 
was  not  a  voice,  but  a  tapping,  like  the  strik- 
ing of  iron  against  stone  or  coal :  so  far  off  it 


THE  "CRUSH."  63 

seemed  —  oh,  so  far  of£  that  the  sound  was 
very  faint ;  it  could  scarcely  be  heard  ;  yet  it 
was  heard. 

Listen  again !  Clink,  dink,  clink,  clink, 
clink,  —  five  times.  Now  it  ceases;  now  it 
begins  again  —  dink,  clink,  clink,  clink,  clink. 
Now  it  stops  again  at  five;  then  it  begins 
again ;  five  more,  then  a  pause,  and  then  five 
more.  What  does  it  mean  ? 

Quick-witted  men,  these  miners,  in  every 
thing  that  relates  to  their  own  calling.  They 
understood  at  once.  They  could  tell,  though 
you  and  I,  reader,  could  not  have  told  from 
what  direction  that  sound  came ;  they  could 
judge  its  distance,  and  they  guessed  what  it 
meant.  There  were  five  missing,  men  and 
boys;  and  the  five  clinks,  —  what  should 
these  mean  but  that  all  the  five  are  yet  safe, 
and  are  looking  to  their  comrades,  whom  they 
know  or  believe  to  be  thinking  of  them,  for 
help  and  deliverance. 

It  was  a  joyful  shout  that  was  raised  when 
this  was  understood ;  then  the  new  comers 


64  DOWX    IX    A    MINE. 

set  to  work  with  zeal,  and  when  the  pitmen 
who  had  been  laboring  all  day  with  so  little 
success  were  drawn  up  to  the  mouth  of  the 
pit,  they  could  take  with  them  to  the  dis- 
tressed relatives  of  the  missing  miners  the 
hope  that  a  few  hours  would  suffice  for  their 
restoration  to  their  homes  and  families. 


CHAPTER   V. 

BTJKIED   ALIVE. 

WE  must  now  return  to  Peter  Morrison 
and  his  companions.  I  have  said  that  they 
were  at  some  workings  in  a  distant  part  of  the 
mine;  and  they,  like  the  other  pitmen  and 
boys,  were  alarmed  by  the  sudden  awful  noise 
caused  by  the  falling  in  of  the  mine,  and  the 
breaking  down  of  the  pillars  which  supported 
the  roof.  Indeed  they  had  greater  cause  for 
alarm  than  the  other  miners,  for  the  crush  was 
very  near  to  them. 

It  happened  that  when  the  accident  oc- 
curred Peter  and  Joseph  Saville  had  just  re- 
turned to  the  workings  with  an  empty  corve. 
If  it  had  taken  place  a  few  minutes  sooner  or 
later  they  would  have  been  killed  by  the 
crush,  which  had  begun  at  an  open  gallery  to 
which  txhey  were  Imrrying  the  coal.  It  was 
5  (65) 


66  DOWN   IN   A    MINE. 

a  great  mercy,  therefore,  that  so  far  they  were 
safe. 

But  the  little  trapper,  Robert,  who  was 
left  sitting  in  the  passage  leading  from  the 
workings  to  the  gallery,  was  he  safe  too? 
Yes;  in  a  minute  after  the  first  shock,  and 
while  the  fearful  rumblings  were  still  follow- 
ing one  another,  the  boy  ran  affrighted  to  the 
men  for  shelter  and  protection.  He  was  too 
young  to  understand  what  was  happening; 
but  he  was  not  the  less  alarmed. 

So  the  two  men,  the  two  youths,  and  the 
child,  were  all  together  in  that  distant  work- 
ing. The  feelings  of  alarm  which  passed 
through  their  minds,  who  can  tell  ?  You  may 
readily  understand  that  picks  and  shovels  and 
other  tools  were  thrown  aside  and  forgotten  : 
while  the  single  lamp  which  continued  burn- 
ing would  have  shown,  in  its  dull  light,  terror 
natural  to  such  an  occurrence  depicted  on 
each  countenance. 

But  this  terror  did  not  deprive  them  of  all 
self-possession ;  and  it  was  well  that  the  two 


BURIED    ALIVE.  67 

men  had  sufficient  control  over  themselves  to 
remain  quiet,  and  also  to  keep  their  younger 
companions  by  their  side,  until  the  repeated 
shocks  had  ceased.  They  knew  that  some- 
thing serious  was  taking  place  between  them 
and  the  entrance  to  the  mine ;  they  guessed 
also  what  it  was ;  and  they  knew  that  if  they 
then  attempted  to  escape  they  would  almost 
certainly  be  rushing  upon  their  own  destruc- 
tion. They  waited  patiently,  therefore,  till 
every  thing  appeared  to  be  quiet,  and  then, 
very  cautiously,  one  of  them  entered  the  nar- 
row passage  which  the  little  trapper  had  de- 
serted, and  taking  the  lamp  with  him,  crept 
along  on  his  hands  and  knees  toward  the 
gallery  into  which  it  opened. 

You  may  fancy  what  a  time  of  suspense  it 
was  while  he  was  gone,  and  how  anxiously 
those  whom  he  left  behind  waited  his  return. 
It  seemed  very  long ;  but  presently  he  made 
his  appearance,  and  very  seriously  and  solemn- 
ly he  spoke.  He  had  gone  through  the  pas- 
sage, he  said,  and  had  entered  into  the  gallery 


68  DOWN  IN   A   MINE. 

a  little  way,  when  he  found  that  he  could  go 
no  further.  The  gallery  was,  indeed,  quite 
destroyed  by  the  solid  earth  and  rocks  from 
above  falling  in.  They  were  BURIED  ALIVE  ! 
This  he  told  them  in  other  words,  and  in  a 
voice  so  changed  from  its  usual  tones,  and  so 
husky,  as  proved  how  deep  and  strong  his 
emotions  were. 

"I  want  to  go  home  ;  please  do  let  me  go 
home,"  cried  little  Robert,  in  a  piteous  voice, 
which,  rough  as  they  might  be  in  manner,  and 
hardy  as  they  were,  brought  tears  to  the  eyes 
of  the  two  men. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  James  Freeman,  "  you  shall 
go  home  as  soon  as  we  can  find  a  way  out 
of  this,  my  man ;  but  we  must  all  wait  a  little 
while.  You  boys  wait  here,"  he  added,  "  and 
Logan  and  I  will  go  together  and  see  what 
can  be  done." 

"  Please  don't  leave  us  in  the  dark  again," 
prayed  the  child ;  and  so  another  lamp  was 
relighted,  and  the  two  men  disappeared,  creep- 
ing, as  one  of  them  had  done  before,  through 
the  low,  narrow  passage. 


BUKIED    ALIVE.  •  .    69 

They  were  gone  longer  this  time.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  describe  the  situation  of  the  gal- 
lery into  which  they  made  their  way ;  it  is 
needful  only  to  say  that  though  some  part  of 
it  which  went  further  back  into  the  mine  was 
uninjured  by  the  crush,  there  was  no  way  out 
of  it  except  through  the  part  which  was  so 
completely  destroyed.  How  far  the  crush  ex- 
tended it  was  impossible  for  them  to  guess ; 
but  they  saw  enough  to  convince  them  that 
they  were  quite  shut  in,  in  that  direction. 

But  there  was  another  hope.  In  the  con- 
fusion of  the  accident  the  men  had  quite  for- 
gotten another  passage  which  led  from  the 
part  of  the  mine  in  which  they  were  inclosed 
to  a  shaft,  or  narrow  opening,  by  which  air 
was  admitted  to  the  workings;  arid  when  this 
remembrance  crossed  their  minds  they  hur- 
ried back,  and  lost  no  time  in  making  trial  of 
this  second  passage.  Alas!  that  no  longer 
existed :  the  crush  had  reached  it  and  de- 
stroyed it ! 

And  by  this  time  all  the  poor  imprisoned 


70  DOWN  IN   A  MINE. 

ones  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  closing  up 
of  the  air  passage.  They  could  scarcely 
breathe;  it  seemed  as  though  they  must  be 
suffocated ;  and  the  two  lamps  gradually 
burned  more  and  more  feebly.  They  had 
almost  given  themselves  up  to  die  that  very 
hour,  when  the  men  remembered  that  the  air 
in  the  gallery  was  more  free  and  pure  than  in 
the  close  working  /  and  that  they  might,  at 
least,  prolong  their  lives  by  moving  into  it.  To 
be  sure  there  would  be  greater  danger  there 
if  the  crush  were  renewed;  but  this  danger 
seemed  slight  compared  with  the  certainty  of 
perishing  by  instant  suffocation.  As  quickly 
as  they  could,  therefore,  they  collected  their 
clothing,  which  had  been  thrown  off  for  work, 
their  baskets  or  bags  of  provision,  their  lamps 
and  oil  cans,  and  hastened  to  this  last  refuge. 
It  was  as  they  hoped :  they  could  breathe 
more  freely  in  the  gallery ;  the  lamps  burned 
brighter  also ;  and  I  may  as  well  say  here, 
that  all  the  while  they  remained  in  the  mine 
they  did  not  suffer  much  from  want  of  air. 


BURIED    ALIVE.  il 

There  was  no  doubt  an  opening,  though  they 
could  not  find  it,  by  which  the  air  they  had 
already  breathed,  and  which  was  no  longer 
capable  of  supporting  life,  escaped,  and  by 
which  fresh  air  entered  their  dismal  dungeon. 
Their  dismal  dungeon !  I  am  not  sure  that 
I  ought  to  use  this  word.  Will  the  young 
readers  bear  in  mind  one  of  the  verses  of  the 
hymn  they  read  a  few  pages  back? 


'  Thy  shining  grace  can  cheer 

This  dungeon  where  I  dwell ; 
'Tis  paradise  if  THOU  art  here ; 
If  Thou  depart,  'tis  hell." 


I  shall  show,  very  soon,  how  applicable  these 
words  were  to  the  endangered  pitmen,  in 
their  dark  prison,  "  down  in  a  mine." 

The  first  care  of  the  two  hewers,  when  they 
all  reached  the  gallery,  was  to  find  a  place 
where  they  might  be  as  secure  as  possible  from 
any  fresh  falling  in  of  the  roof.  There  was  a 
working,  a  sort  of  cave,  we  may  call  it,  raised 
a  little  above  the  floor  of  the  gallery,  and  high 
enough  for  the  men  to  stand  upright  in.  It 


72  DOWX    IX    A    MINE. 

did  not  extend  far  back,  for,  from  some  cause 
or  other,  it  had  only  been  commenced  and 
then  left  unused.  It  seemed  to  be  tolerably 
safe;  and  here  they  sheltered  themselves 
while  they  consulted  together  what  was  best 
to  be  done. 

I  have  said  that  some  of  the  pitmen  were 
pious  men.  It  is  true  they  were,  in  many  re- 
spects, very  unlearned;  but  they  were  not 
ignorant  of  that  best  of  all  knowledge,  the 
way  of  salvation  and  happiness  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  this  more  than  made  up 
for  every  ignorance  besides.  Young  reader, 
bear  this  in  mind,  think  of  it  often,  and  pray 
for  grace  to  act  upon  it :  No  man  or  child  is 
really  and  truly  ignorant  who  has  learned  to 
read  the  Bible,  who  does  read  it,  who  believes 
it,  loves  it,  and  obeys  it.  How  can  any  one 
be  ignorant  who  is  "  wise  unto  salvation "  ? 
And  it  is  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  contained  in 
the  Bible  that  we  are  told,  "  they  are  able  to 
make  us  wise  unto  salvation,  through  faith 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 


BUKIED   ALIVE.  73 

Now  the  two  hewers.  Freeman  and  Logan, 
were  Christian  men :  they  believed  the  Bible ; 
they  loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  they 
trusted  in  him. 

"Well,  James,  what  shall  we  do  next?" 
asked  Logan,  when  they  had  placed  the  three 
boys  in  present  safety,  as  they  hoped,  and 
were  themselves  standing  at  the  entrance  to 
the  working. 

Freeman  shook  his  head  rather  mournfully, 
and  looked  around  him  with  a  feeling  of  help- 
lessness ;  but  he  did  not  speak.  His  heart 
was  very  full ;  he  was  thinking  of  his  wife  and 
children,  and  of  their  distress. 

"  There  is  one  thing  we  can  do,  James,"  con- 
tinued the  other. 

"  Ah,  what  is  that,  Will  ?  " 

"  James,  you  know  where  it  is  said,  *  Call 
upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble :  I  will  deliver 
thee,  and  thou  shalt  glorify  me/  That  is  a 
precious  promise,  and  a  great  encouragement, 
I  think." 


74  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

""  You  are-  right,  Will,"  said  Freeman ;  "  and 
now  we  have  done  all  we  can  to  help  our- 
selves, which  isn't  much,  we  may  look  to  God 
to  help  us;"  and  the  very  thought  of  this 
cheered  his  drooping  mind  not  a  little. 

"  And,"  said  Logan,  "  we  are  sure  of  this, 
that  God  is  able  to  deliver  us  if  he  sees  fit ; 
and  if  it  pleases  him  to  take  us  to  himself 
from  here,  why,  you  know,  James,"  —  he 
added  this  solemnly  and  thoughtfully,  —  "it 
is  as  near  to  heaven  and  glory  at  the  bottom 
of  a  coal  pit  as  any  where  else." 

James  knew  this.  And  the  two  pious  col- 
liers clasped  each  other's  hands  in  Christian 
fellowship ;  and  then,  after  a  short  silence,  one 
of  them  spoke. 

"  You  boys,"  he  said  to  Peter  and  Joe,  "  and 
you  tender  little  thing,  that  ought  not  to  be 
down  here  at  all  by  rights,  there  is  not  any 
use  in  denying  that  we  are  in  a  terrible  strait ; 
and  we  ought  all  of  us  to  know  it,  and  be 
prepared  for  any  thing  that  may  come.  Now, 
we  can  not  do  any  thing  of  much  value  with 


BURLED    ALIVE.  75 

our  hands  or  heads  either ;  but  we  may  lo'ok 
upon  it  as  certain,  that  if  any  thing  can  be 
done  by  others  to  help  us,  it  will  be.  So  we 
must  keep  up  good  heart  and  courage;  and 
the  way  to  do  this  is  to  put  our  trust  in  God 
Almighty  more  than  in  man  :  so  let  us  kneel 
down  and  pray  to  him ;  that  is  the  first  and 
best  thing  for  us  to  do.  God  heard  Jonah 
when  he  cried  for  help  out  of  the  fish's  belly 
down  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  he  can 
hear  us  out  of  this  coal  mine ;  let  us  pray  to 
him,  all." 

They  knelt  down;  sobbing  and  weeping 
was  poor  little  Robert,  the  trapper,  and  sob- 
bing and  weeping  were  Peter  and  Joe ;  but 
the  short  speech  they  had  heard  gave  them 
some  encouragement,  and  they  restrained 
their  cries  while  first  one  and  then  the  other 
of  the  pious  pitmen  prayed  very  fervently 
that  God  would  be  pleased  to  deliver  them 
from  the  danger  and  death  to  which  they 
seemed  doomed ;  and  that  whether  or  not  they 
were  thus  delivered,  they  might  be  prepared 


76  DOWN   IN    A    MINE. 

to  die,  and  be  saved  from  everlasting  ruin 
You  may  be  sure,  also,  that  they  prayed  with 
much  feeling  for  their  poor  families,  who  must 
be  suffering  great  distress  on  their  account, 
that  God  would  comfort  them,  and  that,  if 
they  should  never  meet  again  on  earth,  they 
might  meet  in  heaven,  through  the  merits  and 
intercession  of  the  blessed  Saviour.  They 
prayed,  too,  for  any  other  poor  miners  who 
might  be,  perhaps,  blocked  in  at  other  parts  of 
the  mine  by  the  same  accident.  And,  lastly, 
they  asked  God  to  give  them  strength  in  their 
own  souls  to  be'ar  with  patience  their  present 
affliction,  and  not  to  murmur,  or  repine,  or 
charge  God  foolishly,  whatever  they  might  be 
called  to  endure. 

There  was  solemn  silence  when  the  men 
had  spoken  thus ;  and  when  they  all  rose  from 
their  knees,  it  was  as  though  the  last  part  of 
their  prayers  were  already  answered,  for  their 
spirits  rose  very  much.  Even  the  little  trap- 
per's cries  were  hushed ;  and  Peter  Morrison 
felt  so  sure  that  help  would  come,  that  when 


BUBIED    ALIVE.  77 

he  thought  of  his  widowed  mother  and  his  lit- 
tle sister,  he  could  indulge  in  a  hundred  bright 
fancies  of  how  great  their  happiness  would  be 
when  he  should  be  restored  to  them  uninjured. 

But  the  two  men  were  more  sober  in  their 
expectations.  They  knew  better  than  the 
boys  how  long  it  might  possibly  be  before 
help  could  reach  them,  if  at  all ;  and  also  how 
likely  it  was  that  the  crush  would  extend  yet 
further,  and  that  the  roof  of  the  gallery  where 
they  were  might  fall  in  upon  them  at  any  mo- 
ment. Or,  if  this  should  not  happen,  air  might 
fail  them ;  or  food  —  ah,  how  were  they  to 
live  if  their  imprisonment  was  to  last  many 
days,  when  neither  of  them  had  more  provis- 
ions than  were  enough  for  one  day  ? 

Such  considerations  as  these  made  Free- 
man and  Logan  seriously  thoughtful,  though 
they  did  not  lose  their  trust  and  confidence  in 
God. 

Three  or  four  hours  had  now  passed  away 
since  the  accident  occurred,  and  it  was  time 
to  form  some  plan  for  sustaining  life  as  long  as 


78  DOWN   IN   A   JUNE. 

possible.  It  was  a  happy  circumstance  that 
all  of  them,  down  to  the  little  trapper,  had  se- 
cured their  food  ;  and  now  they  sat  down  to 
a  meal ;  but,  by  the  advice  of  James  Freeman, 
they  agreed  to  eat  sparingly. 

"  We  ought,  each  of  us,  to  reckon  on  mak- 
ing what  we  have  got  last  three  days  at  the 
shortest,"  said  he. 

"  Three  days  !  Shall  we  not  get  out  in  less 
than  three  days?"  said  Joe  Saville,  in  dismay. 
He  had  shared  in  Peter's  firm  expectation  of 
a  speedy  deliverance ;  and  no  wonder  his 
spirits  drooped  again  when  he  heard  three 
days  spoken  of. 

"  If  it  please  God,  we  may  be  released  in  a 
few  hours,"  returned  Freeman  ;  "but  it  is  not 
likely,  and  we  ought  to  be  prepared  for  the 
worst :  at  any  rate  we  ought  to  make  our  food 
hold  out  three  days,  if  need  should  be." 

"We  had  better  club  together,  and  share 
alike,"  added  the  other  man,  Logan.  This 
was  a  good  suggestion,  and  it  was  agreed  to 
directly.  But  it  was  disinterested,  and  gener- 


BURIED    ALIVE.  79 

ous  as  well,  for  Logan's  bag  of  food  was 
much  the  heaviest. 

"I  think  we  ought  to  start  fair,  though," 
said  Freeman.  "  Now,  I  had  a  good  break- 
fast before  coming  down  into  the  mine  this 
morning,  and  I  reckon  you  hadn't  much  of 
one,  my  little  man ; "  and  he  patted  Robert 
Lester  kindly  on  the  back. 

"And  I  had  a  good  breakfast  too,"  said 
Peter,  "  and  I  can  do  without  now ;  let  Bob 
have  my  share." 

The  little  trapper,  however,  had  not  much 
appetite.  He  had  become  alarmed  afresh  by 
the  prospect  of  such  a  long  imprisonment; 
and  he  refused  the  food  offered  him.  Happily 
he  sobbed  himself  to  sleep,  and  one  of  the 
men  kindly  wrapped  him  up  in  his  miner's 
frock,  and  laid  him  gently  down  on  the  floor 
of  the  working. 

Their  meal  was  soon  finished,  and  was 
washed  down  with  a  small  quantity  of  beer, 
a  bottle  of  which  one  of  the  men  had  in  his 
basket. 


80  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

But  now  came  another  serious  question.  It 
might  be  possible  to  make  the  food  last  three 
days;  but  what  should  they  have  .to  drink? 
The  bottle  was  exhausted,  and  they  were  all 
more  likely  to  suffer  from  thirst  than  from 
hunger.  This  question  did  not  trouble  them 
long.  They  had  scarcely  finished  their  meal 
when  a  very  welcome  sound  was  heard;  it 
was  the  noise  of  water  dripping  from  the  roof 
and  trickling  down  the  side  of  the  gallery. 
You  may  fancy  how  grateful  the  poor  miners 
were  for  this  supply,  which  put  them  in  mind 
of  another  of  the  promises  of  God:  "When 
the  poor  and  needy  seek  water,  and  there  is 
none,  and  their  tongue  faileth  for  thirst,  I  the 
Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the  God  of  Israel  will 
not  forsake  them." 

"  It  seems,"  said  Logan,  "  as  if  the  water 
had  been  sent  us  to  put  us  in  mind  that  God  is 
not  forsaking  us;"  and  this  thought  was  a 
great  comfort  to  them. 

And  now  they  again  consulted  what  they 
should  do.  There  was  little  hope  that,  with- 


BURIED    ALIVE.  81 

out  assistance,  they  could  work  their  way  to- 
ward the  entrance  to  the  mine ;  but  it  was 
right  for  them  to  make  the  attempt.  So  they 
got  their  tools  from  the  working,  and  began 
very  cautiously  to  remove  some  of  the  rub- 
bish which  had  fallen.  But,  alas !  they  soon 
found  how  hopeless  this  labor  must  be ;  and 
they  were  giving  way  to  despondency,  when 
a  sound  reached  them  which  made  their  hearts 
beat  quick :  it  was  the  distant  sound  of  tools, 
very  faint  indeed,  but  they  understood  what 
it  meant;  they  were  not  forsaken  —  efforts 
were  being  made  to  release  them  from  their 
prison.  It  was  then  that  it  occurred  to  one 
of  the  hewers  to  strike  forcibly  against  the 
roof  of  the  gallery  with  his  pickax ;  and  we 
have  seen  how  that  signal  was  heard  and  un- 
derstood. 

All  through  the  remainder  of  that  day  the 
men  and  boys  were  very  quiet.  They  princi- 
pally employed  themselves  in  listening  to  the 
far  off  sound  of  the  men  who  were  working 
for  their  deliverance,  and  in  calculating  how 
6 


82  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

many  hours  it  might  be  before  it  could  be 
effected.  As  they  needed  no  light  for  this 
work,  they  extinguished  one  of  their  lamps. 

You  may  suppose  that  the  hours  of  that 
day  seemed  to  pass  away  very  slowly  —  so 
slowly,  that  Freeman,  who  carried  a  watch, 
and  often  looked  at  it,  fancied  that  it  had 
stopped;  and  it  was  only  when  he  .put  it  to 
his  ear,  and  found  that  it  went  on  ticking,  that 
he  was  convinced  to  the  contrary.  But  though 
slowly,  the  time  did  not  pass  unhappily. 
There  was  the  knowledge  that  help  was 
coming  to  them,  or  that,  at  any  rate,  they 
were  not  forgotten  by  their  fellow- workmen, 
and  this  inspired  them  all,  even  little  Robert, 
with  hope.  And  then,  from  time  to  time, 
the  two  Christian  pitmen  spoke  so  confident- 
ly of  the  providence  of  God,  which  is  over 
all,  and  of  his  especial  goodness  to  those  who 
trust  in  him,  that  they  cheered  not  only  them- 
selves, but  their  young  companions  in  dan- 
ger. 

At    length   James   Freeman's   watch   told 


BURIED    ALIVE.  83 

them  that  night  was  come;  and  after  com- 
mending themselves  again  to  their  heavenly 
Father  in  solemn  prayer,  and  dividing  a  por- 
tion of  food  among  them  all,  they  laid  them- 
selves down  on  the  rough  floor  of  the  working 
and  slept. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

HOW   THEY   PASSED    THE    TIME. 

I  THINK  it  likely  that  the  imprisoned  min- 
ers slept  sounder  that  night  than  many  in  the 
collier  village.  The  men  who  had  been  labor- 
ing hard  all  the  day  for  their  deliverance  did 
not  sleep  much,  for  they  thought  of  their 
fellow-workmen  buried  alive;  and  although 
they  had  said  what  they  could  to  cheer  the 
grief-stricken  relatives  of  these  companions, 
they  had  sad  forebodings  that  help  would  be 
too  late. 

And  -the  five  families  who  were  thus 
plunged  into  sorrow  —  you  may  be  sure  that 
there  was  little  sleep  for  them.  The  wives 
and  little  ones  of  Freeman  and  Logan  —  the 
parents  of  Joe  Saville  and  the  little  trapper, 
and  the  widowed  mother  and  sister  of  Peter 

(84) 


HOW   THEY    PASSED    THE    TIME.  85 

Morrison  —  they  were  all  in  too  much  sorrow, 
and  too  full  of  anxiety,  to  sleep. 

But  if  there  was  not  much  sleep  in  the  vil- 
lage that  night,  there  was  much  prayer. 
Among  the  men  who  had  been  so  hard  at 
work  all  day  down  in  the  mine,  were  many 
who,  like  Freeman  and  Logan,  knew  that  "  it 
is  good  to  draw  near  to  God;"  and  these, 
instead  of  returning  immediately  to  their  cot- 
tages, got  together  the  mourners,  and  spent 
hour  after  hour  in  prayer  and  supplication  for 
their  companions.  And  so  the  night  passed 
away  above  ground. 

Then,  down  in  the  mine,  others  were  toiling 
in  trying  to  open  a  way  through  the  crush ; 
and  when  morning  came,  these  workers  were 
relieved  by  those  who  had  passed  the  night 
above  ground. 

All  through  this  day,  and  the  following 
night,  and  the  next  day,  and  the  night  and 
day  after  these,  the  workmen  by  turns  con- 
tinued their  arduous  and  dangerous  labor; 
and  every  hour  their  difficulties  increased. 


86  DOWN   IX   A   MINE. 

The  hard  rock  through  which  they  tried  to 
pierce  seemed  to  become  harder ;  sometimes 
the  tools  broke ;  at  other  times,  the  passage 
which  they  were  opening  became  closed  again 
by  a  fresh  falling  in  from  above ;  then,  again, 
the  water  which  filtered  in  from  all  parts 
through  the  narrow  gallery  increased  upon 
them  so  much  that  they  feared  it  would  stop 
their  working  altogether,  and  they  had  to 
wait  until  it  was  drawn  away.  Indeed,  I 
can  not  tell  you  all  the  difficulties  these  brave 
men  had  to  encounter  in  endeavoring  to  save 
their  companions.  And  all  this  time  they 
were  exposed  to  great  peril ;  for  who  could 
tell  that  another  fall  would  not  take  place  and 
crush  all  who  were  in  the  mine  ? 

Among  the  workmen  was  the  father  of 
little  Robert,  the  trapper;  and  who  can  At- 
tempt to  describe  the  agony  of  his  mind  as 
he  toiled  on  ?  Xight  and  day  he  never  left 
the  mine,  and  scarcely  quitted  his  work.  If 
for  a  few  minutes  his  strength  failed  him,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  retire  and  lie  down,  or  to 


HOW    THEY    PASSED    THE    TIME.  87 

take  a  few  mouthfuls  of  food,  he  soon  re- 
turned and  resumed  his  tools  with  redoubled 
ardor. 

"  You  will  kill  yourself  if  you  go  on  like 
this,"  said  a  kind-hearted  fellow-workman  to 
him,  on  one  of  those  anxious  days;  "leave 
the  mine,  there's  a  good  man,  and  take  some 
rest,  and  trust  us  to  do  all  we  can  while  you 
are  gone." 

"No,  no,  Tom,"  said  he,  in  a  husky  voice; 
"  you  have  not  got  a  child  among  them  that 
are  shut  in  yonder ;  I  have ;  and,  if  it  please 
God,  I  will  not  cease  trying  to  save  him.  I 
promised  his  mother  that  we  would  both  go 
up  out  of  the  mine  together ;  and  so  we  will, 
if  it  please  God,"  he  added,  as  he  wiped  a 
tear  away  from  his  rough  cheek  ;  and  then  he 
began  to  hew  away  again  at  the  hard  barrier 
which  separated  him  from  his  little  Robert. 

There  was  one  sound  which  occasionally 
brought  hope  to  this  father's  heart,  and  nerved 
his  arm  with  strength ;  it  was  repeated,  from 
time  to  time,  and  from  day  to  day  —  that 


88  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

faint  clink  of  the  iron  against  the  rock,  five 
times  repeated.  It  assured  him,  as  it  assured 
his  companions,  that  his  little  Robert  still 
lived. 

And  now  let  us  turn  to  the  poor  prisoners 
in  the  mine. 

"  Peter,  do  you  think  we  shall  get  out  of 
this  ?  "  asked  Joe  Saville,  in  a  faint,  despond- 
ing voice,  as  he  and  his  two  younger  com- 
panions sat  together  in  the  working,  while  the 
two  men  were  again  exploring  the  passage 
and  the  working  beyond,  in  the  vain  expecta- 
tion of  finding  some  other  way  by  which  an 
escape  could  be  effected.  It  was  twenty-four 
hours  after  their  imprisonment,  and  the  boys 
were  in  the  dark;  for  the  miners  could  no 
longer  venture  upon  the  extravagance  of 
burning  two  lamps. 

"  I  don't  know,  Joe,"  replied  Peter,  in  the 
same  sorrowful  tone ;  "  I  don't  know  what  to 
think  about  it." 

**  Peter,  I  wish "    Joseph  paused  here. 


HOW    THEY    PASSED    THE    TIME.  89 

"  What  do  you  wish,  Joe  ?  "  responded  the 
other  young  putter. 

"  I  wish  I  hadn't  gone  where  I  did  on  Sun- 
day," said  Joe,  with  an  effort. 

"  I  wish  you  hadn't,  Joe,"  said  Peter. 

"It  is  very  dreadful  to  be  shut  up  here," 
continued  Joseph,  with  a  shudder ;  "  and  if 
we  should  never  get  out ! " 

"  Oh,  but  I  hope  we  shall,  Joe.  They  are 
working  away  for  us,  you  know." 

"  Ah,  but  before  they  get  at  us  we  may  be 
dead,  or  another  crush  may  come." 

"That  is  true,  Joe;"  and  Peter  felt  his 
courage  giving  way,  especially  when  he  began 
to  think  of  his  mother  and  little  Mary ;  but 
he  was  able  to  reply  cheerily,  "  Joe,  we  must 
keep  up  heart  and  hope,  as  Logan  says,  and 
think  of  good  things." 

"I  don't  know  any  good  things  to  think 
about,"  replied  Joseph  Saville,  moodily." 

"I  think  you  do,  Joe —  a  few." 

"  N"o,  I  reckon  not,"  said  Joe. 

"]STot  about  Jesus  Christ,  Joe?     Oh,  you 


90  DOWN   IX    A   MINE. 

have  heard  about  Jesus  Christ,  and  how  he 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners;  and 
about  his  being  crucified,  you  know,  and  dead 
and  buried ;  and  then  how  he  rose  again,  and 
went  up  to  heaven.  You  know  about  all 
this." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Joe,  weary  and  spirit- 
less. 

"  Why,  these  are  good  things  for  us,"  re- 
turned Peter,  brightening  up  not  a  little  in 
his  mind;  you  know  what  the  Bible  says, 
Joe?" 

Joseph  made  no  answer,  and  both  were 
silent  for  a  little  while;  but  presently  the 
older  boy  said,  "  I  wish  you  would  talk,  Peter, 
it  is  so  unked*  to  be  here  in  the  dark." 

Peter  felt  it  "unked"  too;  not  that  the 
boys  were  not  used  to  being  in  the  dark,  — 
"down  in  a  mine,"  —  but  there  is  a  difference 
between  being  at  work  in  the  dark,  with  a 
way  open  to  the  light,  and  being  shut  in  and 
buried  —  buried  alive.  Peter  was  also  very 
willing  to  strive  against  this  "  unkedness  "  by 

*  Dreary  or  lonely. 


HOW    THEY    PASSED    THE    TIME.  91 

talking ;  but  what  could  he  say  ?  To  be  sure, 
he  could  think  of  a  great  many  things,  but  he 
was  afraid  that  Joe  would  not  care  to  hear 
about  them ;  so  he  said,  "  Why  don't  you  talk, 
Joe?  You  are  the  oldest.  Where  did  you 
go  last  Sunday,  that  makes  you  wish  you 
hadn't  gone?" 

It  did  not  matter,  the  boy  said ;  he  would 
rather  not  tell.  Yet  for  all  this  he  did  tell. 
He  went  rambling  about  the  country  with  his 
companions,  he  said,  and  they  took  him  to  a 
place  where  there  was  a  dog  fight,  and  then 
to  a  public  house,  and  it  was  "  ever  so  late " 
before  he  got  home. 

"Ah,  I  wish  you  had  been  with  me,  and 
mother,  and  Mary,  Joe,"  returned  Peter ; 
"  you  would  have  heard  such  a  sermon." 

"I  don't  know  that;  very  likely  I  should 
have  gone  to  sleep,"  said  the  other;  "what 
was  the  sermon  about  ?  " 

"  About  being  prepared  to  meet  God,"  re- 
plied Peter;  and  the  minister  talked  about 
the  dangers  of  people  down  in  the  mines; 


92  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

you  would  not  have  slept,  I  think,  while  he 
was  telling  about  that.  Then  he  said  that 
dying  was  meeting  God ;  and  that  after  death 
was  the  judgment,  and  that  was  meeting  God 
too ;  and,  oh,  I  can  not  remember  any  more 
now.  But,  Joe,  if  we  should  not  get  out  of 
this,  but  should  die  down  here,  we  shall  all 
have  to  meet  God  —  you,  and  I,  and  little 
Robert  here;  and,  oh,  I  wish  I  was  ready, 
but  I  am  not ! "  and  the  poor  boy  burst  into 
tears. 

Peter  was  not  alone  in  his  lamentations; 
the  little  trapper  boy,  who  had  listened  to 
what  the  others  said,  and  had,  all  the  time 
of  their  imprisonment,  been  very  quiet  and 
thoughtful,  now  began  to  cry  vehemently,  and 
it  took  Peter  some  time  to  quiet  him.  This 
turned  off  the  conversation,  and  soon  the  men 
returned  with  the  lamp,  but  without  success, 
and  much  exhausted. 

"We  must  trust  in  God,  and  pray,"  said 
Freeman  ;  "  but  we  must  also  do  what  we  can 
to  keep  life  in  us,  and  we  have  had  nothing  to 
eat  yet  to-day." 


HOW    THEY   PASSED    THE    TIME.  93 

Indeed,  they  were  all  faint  and  dispirited 
with  hunger ;  and  it  was  a  great  trial  to  them 
all  to  refrain  from  eating  as  much  as  they 
desired.  They  did  refrain,  however ;  for  they 
could  understand  now  how  needful  it  was  to 
make  the  small  quantity  of  provisions  they 
had  hold  out;  so  they  resolutely  put  aside 
what  remained,  and  agreed  not  to  have  an- 
other meal  for  twelve  hours. 

It  was  a  mercy  that  water  did  not  fail 
them ;  indeed,  by  this  time,  the  floor  of  the 
gallery  was  covered  with  it,  so  that  they 
could  not  step  out  of  their  retreat  without 
being  over  shoe  tops.  But  it  never  rose  so 
high  as  the  floor  of  the  working;  and  they 
were  thankful  to  have  it  in  their  power  freely 
to  quench  the  thirst  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  very  painful  to  bear. 

Their  scanty  meal  ended,  the  pious  colliers 
again  spent  some  time  in  prayer;  and  their 
spirits  were  so  lightened  that  they  believed 
they  could  sing  as  well  as  pray. 

"  Come,  Peter,"  said  Logan,  "  you  know  a 


94  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

good  mafty  hymns  that  you  have  learned  at 
the  Sunday  school ;  can't  you  think  of  one 
that  will  suit  us  ?  " 

Yes,  Peter  could  think  of  several ;  and  after 
a  little  effort,  he  fixed  upon  this  one :  — 

"  Through  all  the  changing  scenes  of  life, 

In  trouble  and  in  joy, 
The  praises  of  my  God  shall  still 
My  heart  and  tongue  employ." 

"That's  a  song  that  will  do  bravely,"  said 
Logan,  when  Peter,  with  a  faltering  voice? 
had  repeated  that  verse.  "  King  David  said, 
'  I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all  times ;  his  praise 
shall  continually  be  in  my  mouth ; '  and 
though  he  was  never  shut  up  in  a  mine,  as 
we  are,  I  reckon  he  was  in  as  big  trouble 
often.  Didn't  he  say  once  that  there  was 
only  a  step  between  him  and  death  ?  and 
yet  he  could  say,  *  I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all 
times.'  That  is  a  good  hymn,  Peter,  and 
suitable.  How  does  it  go  on  ?  " 

"With  a  little  more  firmness,  Peter  repeated 
the  verses  that  followed :  — 


HOW    THEY    PASSED    THE    TIME.  95 

"  Of  his  deliverance  I  will  boast, 

Till  all  who  are  distressed 
From  my  example  comfort  take, 
And  charm  their  griefs  to  rest. 

'«  The  hosts  of  God  encamp  around 

The  dwellings  of  the  just: 
Protection  he  affords  to  all 
Who  make  his  name  their  trust. 

"Oh,  make  but  trial  of  his  love : 

Experience  will  decide 
How  blest  are  they,  and  only  they, 
Who  in  his  truth  confide. 

"  Fear  him,  ye  saints,  and  you  will  then 

Hare  nothing  else  to  fear : 
Make  you  his  service  your  delight, 
He'll  make  your  wants  his  care." 

It  would  have  done  your  hearts  good, 
young  readers,  if  you  could  have  heard  this 
song  of  praise  rising  up  out  of  that  dark  vault, 
"down  in  a  mine."  And  though  it  reached 
no  mortal  ears  beyond  the  ears  of  those  who 
softly  sang  it,  be  sure  of  this,  that  God  heard 
it ;  and  so  far  as  the  words  were  sung  with 
melody,  and  true  feeling,  and  meaning  of 
heart,  he  was  well  pleased  with  it. 

So  much  were  the  poor  miners  refreshed  in 
spirit  by  singing  of  God's  goodness  and 


96  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

watchful  providence,  that,  throughout  that 
day,  when  they  began  to  feel  a  little  cast 
down  again,  or  when  the  ^time  dragged  on 
wearily,  they  called  upon  Peter  for  another 
hymn. 

But,  you  may  say,  they  had  their  tools; 
why  did  they  not  try  to  dig  their  way  out  of 
that  prison?  You  may  rely  upon  it  they 
would  have  repeated  the  attempt  they  had 
made  the  day  before,  if  they  had  not  found  it 
to  be  worse  than  useless.  No:  help  must 
come  from  without;  and  all  they  had  the 
power  to  do  was  to  pray  that  God  would  give 
success  to  the  efforts  of  their  fellow-workmen. 

They  did  not  forget,  however,^  to  strike 
against  their  prison  wall  from  time  to  time,  to. 
let  their  deliverers  —  or  those  whom  they 
hoped  would  be  their  deliverers  —  know  that 
they  yet  lived. 

And  thus  twenty-four  more  hours  passed 
away. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

HOPE    AND    FEAR. 

I  SHALL  pass  very  rapidly  over  the  events 
of  these  two  days ;  but  I  must  not  omit  to 
say  that  the  tidings  of  an  accident  had  by 
this  time  spread  far  and  wide,  and  that  stran* 
gers  came  flocking  to  the  colliers'  village,  and 
to  the  mine  itself;  some  out  of  curiosity,  no 
doubt,  but  others  out  of  sympathy,  and  to 
offer  help  as  far  as  help  could  be  given. 

There  were  rich  persons,  for  instance,  who 
offered  large  rewards  to  the  miners,  to  inspire 
them  the  more  in  their  dangerous  work ;  there 
were  surgeons  and  medical  men,  who  held 
themselves  ready  to  give  their  services,  if 
they  were  needed,  either  in  case  of  other 
accidents  happening,  or  to  the  poor  exhausted 
prisoners  themselves  when  rescued ;  there 
were  pitmen,  also,  who  had  no  money  to  offer 
7  (97) 


98  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

for  a  reward,  and  no  medical  skill  to  boast  of, 
but  who  had  strong  arms  and  willing  hearts, 
and  were  anxious  to  "take  a  spell,"  as  they 
said,  at  the  benevolent  labor  going  on  below. 
Indeed,  if  all  who  came  with  these  ready 
offers  could  have  been  set  to  work  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  the  work  of  liberation  would 
soon  have  been  completed;  but,  in  the  con- 
fined gallery  of  the  mine,  only  a  few  could 
work  together,  and  all  that  could  be  done  was 
by  the  men  taking  turns  and  relieving  one 
another,  at  short  intervals  of  time,  so  as  to 
keep  up  the  labor  day  and  night  without  ex- 
hausting the  strength  of  any. 

It  was  a  busy  scene  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  new  coal  pit.  The  windlass  and  rope 
were  almost  constantly  at  work,  with  work- 
men either  descending  or  ascending ;  and 
around  were  crowds  anxiously  waiting  for 
news  from  below,  and  asking  of  those  more 
recently  come  up  from  the  mine  how  far  they 
had  proceeded  in  the  new  passage ;  what 
hope  they  had  of  success;  and  especially 


HOPE    AND    FEAR.  99 

whether  the  blocked-in  miners  continued  their 
signals. 

And  all  the  while  this  was  going  on,  there 
were  those  who  tried  to  encourage  the  dis- 
tressed families  of  the  poor  missing  ones  to 
trust  in  God,  and  to  look  to  him  for  help  and 
consolation.  Many  times  a  day,  and  every 
night  also,  public  prayer  was  offered  on  their 
behalf,  in  little  assemblies  gathered  together 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
who  shall  tell  how  many  secret  petitions 
ascended  to  heaven  from  humble,  contrite 
hearts  of  those  who  understood  the  nature 
of  true  and  acceptable  prayer  to  be 

"  The  burden  of  a  sigh, 
The  falling  of  a  tear  ; 
The  upward  glancing  of  the  eye 
When  none  but  God  is  near  "  ? 

And  now  let  us  descend  once  more  into 
the  mine,  to  Peter  Morrison  and  his  com- 
panions, young  and  old. 

Thursday.  Very  weak  and  languid  were 
they  all  by  this  time.  They  had  been  two 


100  DOWN   IK   A   MINE. 

whole  days  and  two  nights  shut  in,  and  the 
small  quantity  of  food  they  had  taken  was 
quite  insufficient  to  keep  up  their  strength. 
Indeed,  they  began  now  to  feel  the  pains  of 
hunger  very  severely,  and  they  looked  with 
alarm  at  their  diminished  store  of  provisions. 

And  yet  they  dare  not  indulge  their  almost 
ravenous  appetites;  for,  though  they  could 
hear  the  sound  of  tools,  these  sounds  seemed 
as  distant  as  ever,  and  they  began  to  think 
that  many  days  might  yet  elapse  before  a  way 
would  be  made  into  their  prison;  and  by  that 
time  they  would  probably  have  been  starved 
to  death. 

You  may,  perhaps,  suppose  that,  with  these 
thoughts  before  them,  they  became  quite  be- 
side themselves  with  fear  and  sorrow;  but, 
indeed,  this  was  not  the  case.  The  two  pious 
pitmen  encouraged  each  other  to  trust  in 
God,  in  some  such  language  as  that  used  by 
the  Psalmist  when  he  was  in  deep  distress: 
"  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ?  and 
why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ?  Hope 


HOPE    AND    FEAR.  101 

thou  in  God ;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him,  who 
is  the  health  of  my  countenance,  and  my 
God."  Ps.  xlii.  11. 

And  you  may  be  sure  that  they  not  only 
encouraged  each  other  thus  to  trust  and  not 
be  afraid,  but  that  they  were  deeply  con- 
cerned that  their  young  companions  should 
be  prepared  for  death,  and  judgment,  and 
eternity.  The  greater  part  of  this  day  was 
therefore  spent  in  serious  and  religious  con- 
versation with  the  boys,  and  in  recalling  to 
their  minds  what  they  had  many  times  before 
heard  respecting  the  way  of  salvation  from 
the  awful  punishment  due  to  sin. 

I  can  not  tell  you  in  so  many  words  what 
they  said,  but  they  spoke  a  good  deal  about 
the  great  love  of  God  in  sending  his  Son  into 
the  world  to  die  for  sinners,  and  of  the  ten- 
der compassion  of  the  Saviour,  now  that  he  is 
risen  and  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  his 
Father,  toward  all  who  need  and  seek  his 
mercy.  I  am  pretty  certain  also  that  these 
Christian  men  told  the  boys  of  the  willing- 


102  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

ness  of  God  to  receive  and  bless  all  who  come 
to  him  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  tho 
promised  gift  of  his  Holy  Spirit  to  all  who 
ask  him. 

More  than  this,  they  declared  the  need 
there  is  for  all  to  have  their  hearts  changed, 
their  minds  renewed,  their  sins  washed  away, 
their  thoughts,  and  feelings,  and  desires  made 
holy,  before  heaven  can  be  attained  and  en- 
joyed; and  that  repentance  must  be  felt 
before  pardon  of  sin  can  be  obtained.  And 
the  boys  were  reminded  that  God  has  exalted 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  a  Prince  and  a 
Saviour,  to  give  repentance  and  remission  of 
sins  to  all  who  trust  in  him. 

Further,  these  earnest,  simple-hearted  Chris- 
tians repeated  the  very  words  of  Scripture  — 
and  very  encouraging  words  they  are  —  about 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  namely,  that  "he  is 
able  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come 
unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession  for  them."  Heb.  vii.  25. 

And  then  these  pious  men  reminded  their 


HOPE    AND    FEAR.  103 

young  companions,  kindly  but  faithfully,  of 
the  danger  in  which  each  one  of  them  was 
then  placed,  and  the  probability  that  they 
*might  none  of  them  live  to  be  rescued  from 
it ;  that  time  with  them  would  perhaps  soon 
be  no  more;  and  that,  ere  many  hours  had 
passed  away,  they  might  all  have  to  meet  God 
in  judgment.  And  because  of  this  they  ex- 
horted them  to  pray  to  God,  not  so  much  to 
deliver  them  from  bodily  danger,  as  to  have 
tnercy  on  them,  and  save  them  from  eternal 
ruin. 

Thus,  with  conversation  and  prayer,  and 
sometimes  with  attempting  to  sing  a  hymn 
(but  all  their  voices  were  becoming  feeble  by 
this  time),  the  day  passed  away;  and  once 
more  they  commended  themselves  to  the  pro- 
tection and  compassion  of  their  heavenly 
Father,  and  lay  down  to  sleep  after  having 
made  another,  but  very  scanty,  meal. 

Friday.  This  was  a  very  solemn  day  clown 
in  the  mine.  The  provisions  were  almost 


104  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

gone,  and  still  the  sounds  of  help  seemed  but 
little  nearer.  This  was  a  mistake,  however, 
for  help  was  much  nearer  than  they  sup- 
posed ;  but  either  the  sounds  were  deadened, 
or  their  power  of  hearing  them  had  become 
weaker. 

And  this,  perhaps,  was  the  case ;  for  ah1  of 
them  had  become  very  weak  with  long  fasting 
and  being  confined  in  so  close  a  place,  where 
the  air  was  becoming  unwholesome,  though 
they  could  still  breathe  in  it.  Indeed,  little 
Robert  Lester  had  become  so  very  weak 
(although  great  care  had  been  taken  of  him, 
and  he  had  had  his  full  share  of  food)  that 
he  could  not  sit  up,  and  his  senses  seemed 
wandering,  for  he  talked  about  green  fields 
and  sunshine  as  though  he  saw  the  fields  and 
felt  the  warmth  of  the  sun. 

It  was  a  mercy,  however,  that  the  pains  of 
hunger,  which  all  had  felt  on  the  previous 
day,  were  gone ;  and  when  the  last  morsels 
of  bread  were  divided,  it  seemed  almost  a 
matter  of  indifference  to  them  whether  they 
ate  or  not. 


HOPE    AND   FEAB.  105 

And  now  another  trouble  came.  For  more 
than  three  days  their  lamp  had  continued 
burning.  It  was  a  dim  light,  it  is  true,  but  it 
was  far  better  than  being  quite  in  the  dark ; 
now,  however,  toward  the  close  of  Friday, 
they  found  that  all  the  oil  was  exhausted,  and 
the  lamp  went  out. 

I  believe  that  they  all  felt  this  trouble  more 
keenly  than  their  danger  at  that  time ;  but  it 
served  to  fix  their  minds  more  on  the  prospect 
before  them. 

"  Our  food  is  gone,  and  our  light  is  gone," 
said  Freeman;  "but  our  God  is  not  gone. 
He  has  said,  '  I  will  never  leave  you  nor  for- 
sake you;'  and  you  can  trust  him  yet,  can 
you  not,  mate  ?  "  This  he  said  to  Logan. 

"Yes,  I  can,"  said  the  other  pious  miner. 
"You  know  the  hymn,  James;  shall  we  try 
to  sing  it  ?  It  is  the  last  hymn,  mayhap,  we 
shall  sing  down  here ;  our  next  song,  if  it 
please  God,  will  be  where  there's  no  want  of 
lamps  nor  of  sun  either,  because  <  the  Lamb 
is  the  light  thereof.' "  Rev.  xxi.  23. 


106  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

"  True,  Will ;  and  that  is  glorious  to  think 
of:  but  what  hymn  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"Hymn?  Oh,  I  forgot;  yes,  I  remember 
now :  this  is  it  — 

4  The  soul  that  on  Jesus  hath  leaned  for  repose, 
He  will  not,  he  will  not  desert  to  its  foes  ; 
That  soul,  though  all  hell  should  endeavor  to  shake, 
He'll  never,  no  never,  no  never  forsake.'  " 

They  tried  to  sing  the  verse,  but  their 
strength  almost  failed  them  before  they  came 
to  the  last  words.  Their  hearts  sang,  how- 
ever, and  beat  joyfully  at  the  remembrance 
of  their  Saviour's  faithfulness  and  love. 

"  Peter,  my  poor  boy,  and  you  too,  Joe," 
said  Logan  to  the  boys,  whom  he  could  no 
longer  see ;  "  and  you  too,  Robert,  if  you  can 
mind  any  thing  that  is  said ;  our  light  going 
out  like  this  should  put  us  in  mind  of  how 
near  our  mortal  life  is  going  out  too.  It  is  a 
mercy  that  God  has  given  us  time  to  think  of 
these  things :  now  that  time  is  pretty  near 
up,  I  reckon ;  and  will  you  now  pray  for 
yourselves  ?  We  have  been  praying  for  you 


HOPE    AND    FEAR.  107 

and  others  many  times,  you  know,  since  we 
have  been  shut  in  here;  but  if  any  body 
wants  any  thing  of  God,  he  must  ask  for  it 
himself,  he  must.  I  don't  know  what  there 
may  be  between  God  and  your  souls,  but  I  do 
know,  if  you  have  not  got  salvation,  you 
want  that  more  than  any  thing  else.  And 
won't  you  pray  to  God  for  it  ?  Do,  now." 

Little  Robert  did  not  appear  to  understand 
what  the  man  said,  but  still  to  be  wandering 
in  mind,  for  he  talked  quickly  to  himself  in 
a  low  voice,  and  it  was  all  about  the  pretty 
flowers  in  green  fields ;  and  then  suddenly  he 
broke  out  in  a  louder  tone,  and  repeated  two 
lines  of  a  hymn  which  probably  he  had 
learned  at  the  Sunday  school, — 

"  Sweet  fields  beyond  the  swelling  flood 
Stand  dressed  in  living1  green." 

"  Poor  little  fellow,"  said  Freeman ;  "  and, 
please  God,  you'll  reach  those  green  fields  as 
soon  as  any  of  us.  Why  not?  Didn't  our 
blessed  Lord  say,  'Suffer  the  little  children 


108  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

to  come  unto  me ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ? J  But  you,  Joe,  and  Peter " 

He  broke  off  short  here,  but  perhaps  the 
lads  understood  him;  one  of  them  did,  at 
any  rate.  Peter  had  been  thoughtful  al) 
through  the  trying  time,  although  he  had 
been  very  silent.  When  he  afterward  spoke 
of  what  had  passed  through  his  mind,  he 
said,  — 

"  I  thought  a  great  deal  of  the  things  I  had 
been  taught  at  the  Sunday  school,  and  had 
heard  from  my  mother;  and  then  I  remem 
bered  many  circumstances  in  my  short  life 
which  before  had  been  forgotten.  A  great 
many  sins  I  had  committed,  not  only  in  deed 
and  in  word,  but  in  thought,  came  into  my 
mind,  and  made  me  truly  miserable  and  fear- 
ful, because  I  could  see  how  deserving  I  was 
of  the  wrath  of  God.  These  words  then 
came  to  my  remembrance, — 


'  And  if  my  soul  were  sent  to  hell, 
Thy  righteous  law  approves  it  well.' 


HOPE    AND    FEAK.  109 

"  There  had  been  a  time,"  continued  Peter, 
"  when  these  lines  puzzled  me.  I  thought  is 
harsh  and  cruel  that  God  should  punish  his 
creatures  so  severely  in  another  world  for  sins 
committed  against  him  in  this  ;  and  I  did  not 
understand,  nor  try  to  understand,  why  God 
should  make  such  laws.  But  now  it  came  to. 
my  mind  that  it  was  right  and  just ;  and  I 
could  see  more  clearly  that  sin  against  a  holy 
God  must  be  punished,  or  God  could  no 
longer  be  holy.  This  made  me  still  more 
miserable,  and  I  think  I  felt  something  like 
despair,  knowing  that  I  could  do  nothing  of 
myself  to  escape  the  just  anger  of  God.  But 
all  at  once  I  remembered  the  words  of  David 
in  one  of  the  Psalms, « If  thou,  Lord,  shouldst 
mark  iniquities,  O  Lord,  who  shall  stand? 
But  there  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou 
mayst  be  feared.  With  the  Lord  there  is 
mercy,  and  with  him  is  plenteous  redemp- 
tion.' Ps.  cxxx.  3,  4,  7. 

"  Oh,  what  joy  these  words  gave"  me  ;  espe- 
cially when  Freeman  and  Logan  (as  though 


110  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

they  knew  what  was  in  my  mind)  began  to 
speak  of  the  great  love  of  God  in  sending  his 
dear  Son  into  the  world  to  die  for  sinners.  I 
felt  then  that  I  could  trust  in  God  to  save  me, 
and  that  I  could  pray  to  him  in  my  heart  as 
to  my  heavenly  Father.  I  forgot  the  mine, 
and  the  danger,  and  my  dear  home  above 
ground.  There  was  such  lightness,  and 
brightness,  and  comfort  in  thinking  that, 
though  I  could  not  do  any  thing,  Jesus  could 
do  every  thing,  because  he  is  able  to  save 
them  to  the  uttermost  who  come  to  God  by 
him.  And  .then  a  verse  or  two  of  another 
hymn  I  had  learned,  and  thought  little  about 
when  I  learned  it,  came  with  wonderful  sweet- 
ness to  my  mind,  — 


'  Lord,  with  this  guilty  heai*t  of  mice 

To  thy  dear  cross  1  flee ; 
And  to  thy  grace  my  soul  resign, 
To  be  renewed  by  thee. 

4  Sprinkled  afresh  with  pardoning  blood, 

I  lay  me  down  to  rest, 
As  in  the  embraces  of  my  God, 
And  on  my  Saviour's  breast.'  " 


HOPE    AND    FEAR.  Ill 

This  is  the  account  that  Peter  Morrison 
gave  many  years  afterward  of  his  feelings  at 
that  time  of  danger;  and  he  added  that  he 
felt  so  resigned  that  he  did  not  desire  to  live 
if  it  were  the  will  of  God  then  to  take  him  to 
himself. 

It  would  have  given  great  joy  to  the  two 
pious  pitmen  had  they  known  how,  in  that 
dark  and  perilous  prison  of  theirs,  the  good 
and  gracious  Spirit  of  God  was  powerfully 
bringing  one  of  their  young  companions  to 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
Peter  had  not  many  words  to  say  for  himself: 
he  could  only  think,  and  wonder,  and  pray, 
and  love,  and  praise  —  all  silently. 

And  so  the  hours  of  that  day  passed  away, 
while  every  one  there  had  the  solemn  convic- 
tion that  in  a  few  hours  more  their  mortal 
lives  must  close. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

RESCUED  ! 

IT*  was  a  scene  of  great  excitement  at  the 
mouth  of  the  coal  pit  on  the  morning  of  this 
day.  Almost  before  it  was  light  a  great  num- 
ber of  persons  congregated,  hoping  to  hear  of 
the  rescue  of  the  buried  miners.  The  wives 
of  Freeman  and  Logan,  with  their  children, 
were  there ;  so  were  the  mothers  of  the  boys ; 
.for  they  had  been  confidently  assured  that  the 
workmen  below  had  nearly  made  their  way, 
as  they  believed,  through  the  crush  ;  and  that 
a  few  hours  more  at  furthest  would  restore  to 
them  their  lost  ones. 

Pale  and  haggard  were  they  all  with  hope 
deferred  and  anxious  care ;  but  they  were  very 
quiet  and  silent  as  they  stood  together  in  a 
group,  and  only  showed,  by  their  quivering 
lips  and  earnest  gaze,  as  from  time  to  time  the 

(112) 


RESCUED  !  113 

windlass  drew  up  a  fresh  freight,  how  deep  was 
their  interest  in  all  that  was  going  on.  And 
then,  when  the  short  answer  given  to  the  xques- 
tions  so  eagerly  put  by  one  after  another  to 
these  wearied  men  from  below  was,  "Not 
yet!"  it  was  piteous  to  see  their  grief-stricken 
countenances,  and  to  hear  their  broken,  half- 
stifled  sobs. 

Below,  the  scene  was  different.  Very  si- 
lently the  men  labored  with  all  their  might ; 
they  had  no  time  to  waste  in  words,  and  if 
they  had,  they  would  have  had  no  heart  to 
talk.  It  is  true  they  hoped  and  believed  that 
they  had  almost  pierced  the  barrier  which 
separated  them  from  their  companions;  but 
were  they  not  already  laboring  in  vain  ?  For 
many  hours  there  had  been  no  signals.  They 
had  listened  anxiously  for  the  faint  clink 
which  had  before  been  so  often  repeated  ;  but 
no  sound  came.  What  could  this  silence 
mean  ?  Five  whole  days  had  their  poor  com- 
rades been  buried,  without  food,  or,  at  best, 
with  only  sufficient  provisions  for  two  meals  ; 


114  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

and  it  was  but  a  reasonable  fear  that,  if  not 
destroyed  by  choke  damp,  they  had  more 
slowly,  but  not  less  surely,  perished  by  famine, 
And  among  these  agitated  workers  was 
Thomas  Lester  still.  He  listened  to  no  en- 
treaties to  desist.  His  head  .was  dizzy,  his 
arms  were  by  this  time  all  but  powerless ;  yet 
still  he  maintained  his  post.  He  was  trying 
to  save  the  life  of  his  child. 

•        •        •        •        • 

Suddenly  the  silence  was  broken  by  a  hasty 
exclamation  from  one  of  the  workmen.  The 
barrier  was  pierced.  His  tool  —  a  long  instru- 
ment used  for  boring  into  the  hard  rock  —  no 
longer  met  with  resistance,  and  when  it  was 
withdrawn,  the  murmur  of  feeble  voices  was 
heard  from  the  cavern  beyond.  For  a  few 
moments  work  was  discontinued,  while  a  few 
anxious  questions  and  answers  were  exchanged 
between  those  without  and  those  within. 

"  Freeman,  are  you  there  ?  " 

"Here:  and  Logan,  and  the  three  boys." 
The  reply  was  weak  and  hollow ;  but  it  was 
understood. 


RESCUED  !  115 

"  All  living  ?  "  This  was  the  next  inquiry, 
with  a  beating  heart. 

"  All !  thank  God,  we  are  all  living." 

"  Hear  that,  men,"  shouted  the  questioner 
to  those  behind  him.  "  All  are  living ! " 

"All!  tell  me  that  again,"  shouted  the 
hoarse  voice  of  a  man  who  staggered  forward : 
"all!  is  my  boy  alive?"  They  all  knew  whose 
voice  this  was ;  and  they  made  way  for  the 
man.  The  question  was  repeated  :  "  Is  Robert 
Lester  among  you  ?" 

"Ay,  ay;  and  well  cared  for,  poor  little  fel- 
low. He  lives." 

The  father  heard  it.  The  news  seemed  too 
good  to  be  true  :  it  overpowered  him,  and  he 
fell  down  senseless.  His  strength  arid  endur- 
ance failed  him  at  last ;  and  he  was  removed 
to  the  more  open  gallery  behind. 

The  conversation  was  renewed.  "  There 
are  some  feet  to  work  through  yet ;  can  you 
wait  another  hour?" 

"God  has  strengthened  us,  and  he  will 
strengthen  us.  Yes,  we  can  wait." 


116  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

No  need  for  more  :  once  more  the  sound  of 
tools,  and  the  wheeling  away  of  the  loosened 
masses  as  fast  as  they  were  detached  from  the 
narrow  passage.  Nearer  and  nearer,  nearer 
and  nearer ;  at  -last  the  opening  was  widened. 
Be  careful  now,  brave  miners ;  the  lives  of 
your  buried  companions  and  your  own  are 
hanging  as  on  a  thread.  One  false,  unhappy 
stroke,  and  tons  of  rock  are  ready  to  fall  and 
involve  you  all  in  one  common  ruin.  Pray, 
pray  all,  to  Him  who  holds  all  things  in  his 
hands,  that  he  will  prosper  your  brotherly 
work  to  the  end. 

Yes,  the  miners  know  the  danger.  Ejacu- 
lations rose  from  many  hearts  and  lips  as 
carefully  —  oh,  how  carefully !  —  one  obstacle 
after  another  was  removed.  Then  the  buried 
ones  came  forth,  staggering  along  the  passage 
which  had  just  been  completed,  their  weak 
and  agitated  frames  supported  by  their  deliv- 
erers, on  whom  their  feeble  sight  rested  with 
brotherly  affection  and  gratitude.  Soiled,  and 
haggard,  and  hollow-eyed  they  were;  but 


THE  RESCUE. 


RESCUED!  117 

gladness  was  in  their  hearts,  and  praise  on 
their  trembling  lips,  to  Him  who  had  brought 
them  up  out  of  the  horrible  pit,  and  cheered 
them  with  his  presence  while  there. 

I  need  not,  indeed  I  can  not,  describe  the 
meeting  of  these  rescued  ones  with  those 
whom  they  loved  ;  but  I  must  not  omit  to  tell, 
that  when  the  hewer,  Lester,  was  drawn  up  to 
the  mouth  of  the  pit,  carrying  his  boy,  the 
little  trapper,  in  his  arms,  a  shout  was  raised, 
with  which  the  air  rang  far  and  wide. 

But  now,  indeed,  there  was  some  danger 
that  the  poor  starved  men  and  boys  would  be 
almost  killed  with  kindness.  It  was  well  that 
judicious  medical  men  were  present,  to  regu- 
late and  direct  the  right  means  for  their  res- 
toration. Nourishing  liquid  food,  in  small 
quantities,  was  at  first  given  to  them,  until 
their  enfeebled  powers  were  strengthened. 

A  few  days  later,  and  the  ordinary  occupa- 
tions of  the  mine  were  resumed ;  the  ruined 
galleries  were  being  restored,  and  hewers, 


118  DOWN   IX   A   MINE. 

putters,  and  little  trappers  descended  and 
ascended  as  though  nothing  had  happened  to 
interrupt  their  work.  In  time,  in  a  short 
time  indeed,  the  accident,  if  not  forgotten, 
was  lightly  spoken  of.  It  was  so  common  for 
such  things  to  happen  that,  when  over,  they 
were  looked  upon  with  indifference,  especially 
when  they  had  no  fatal  termination.  But 
there  were  those  upon  whom  the  scenes 
through  which  they  had  passed  wrought  ef- 
fects that  were  never  afterward  effaced.  For 
instance,  the  two  pitmen,  Freeman  and  Logan, 
were  confirmed  in  faith  and  love  toward  their 
God  and  Saviour  by  the  experience  they  had 
had  of  divine  mercy  and  "grace  to  help  in 
time  of  need,"  and  of  the  power  of  religion  to 
diffuse  peace,  and  happiness,  and  "joy  in  be- 
lieving," in  the  darkest  dispensations  of  provi- 
dence, and  in  the  most  desperate  straits ;  while 
their  rescue  from  death,  when  death  seemed 
so  near  and  certain,  encouraged  them  to  put 
their  trust  in  God  with  more  unshaken  firm- 
ness in  all  time  to  come.  They  could  say  and 


RESCUED  !  119 

sing,  what  was  always  afterward  a  favorite 
hymn  with  them, — 

"  Of  his  deliverance  we  will  boast, 

Till  all  who  are  distressed 
From  our  example  comfort  take, 
And  charm  their  fears  to  rest." 

And  there  was  another  song  which  they  were 
never  tired  of  singing:  it  was  this, — 

"  Upward  I  lift  mine  eyes  j 

From  God  is  all  my  aid— 
The  God  that  built  the  skies, 
And  earth  and  nature  made : 
God  is  the  tower 
To  which  I  fly  ; 
His  grace  is  nigh 
In  every  hour. 

"  My  feet  shall  never  slide, 
Nor  fall  in  fatal  snares, 
Since  God,  my  Guard  and  Guide 
Defends  me  from  my  fears. 
Those  wakeful  eyes 
That  never  sleep, 
Shall  Israel  keep 
When  dangers  rise. 

"  No  burning  heats  by  day, 

Nor  blasts  of  evening  air, 
Shall  take  my  health  away, 
If  God  be  with  me  there  : 
Thou  art  my  sun, 
And  thou  my  shade, 
To  guard  my  head 
By  night  or  noon. 


120  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

"  Hast  tliou  not  given  thy  word 

To  save  my  soul  from  death  ? 
And  I  can  trust  my  Lord 
To  keep  my  mortal  breath. 
I'll  go  and  come, 
Nor  fear  to  die, 
Till  from  on  high 
Thou  call  me  home." 

Robert  Lester,  the  little  trapper,  .soon  re- 
covered from  the  effects  of  his  sufferings ;  but 
he  was  not  sent  down  into  the  mine  again 
until  he  was  some  years  older.  This  was  good 
for  him  in  many  ways :  it  was  good  for  his 
health  and  strength,  and  it  also  gave  oppor- 
tunity for  his  being  sent  to  school,  of  which 
he  would  otherwise  have  been  deprived.  I 
am  happy  to  say  that  now,  at  the  time  I  am 
writing,  very  young  children  are  not  allowed 
to  be  put  to  work  in  mines,  and  that  the  hours 
of  labor  of  all  young  persons  so  employed 
have  been  greatly  diminished  ;  so  that  there 
are  no  cases,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  of  children  of 
eight  or  nine  years  of  age  working  fourteen 
or  sixteen  hours  a  day,  "  down  in  a  mine." 

I  must  say  a  word  or  two  about  Joseph 


RESCUED !  121 

Saville,  who  was  greatly  and  justly  alarmed 
by  the  near  prospect  of  so  shocking  a  death, 
and  who  was  very  thankful  for  his  escape  from 
it.  One  useful  effect  of  this  alarm  was  that, 
from  that  time,  he  discontinued  the  open 
profanation  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  abandoned 
the  society  of  those  who  had  led  him  into 
sinful  practices.  Not  long  afterward,  other 
changes  were  seen  in  his  entire  conduct,  which 
gave  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart  also. 
And  then  he  thankfully  acknowledged  that 
the  conversation  of  the  pious  hewers,  and 
their  kind  and  faithful  exhortations,  and  espe- 
cially their  calm  happiness  in  the  midst  of 
danger,  had  been  the  means  made  use  of  by 
the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  in  leading  him  to 
seek  the  Lord  while  he  is  to  be  found,  and  to 
call  upon  him  while  near;  to  look  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  deliverance  from  eternal 
destruction,  and  thus  to  be  prepared  for  meet- 
ing God  in  death  and  in  judgment. 

Peter  Morrison  returned  for  a  short  time  to 
his  labor  in  the  mine ;  but  he  did  not  con- 


122  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

tinue  to  be  a  miner  all  his  life.  After  a  few 
years,  he,  with  his  mother  and  sister,  removed 
to  another  part  of  the  country ;  and  in  another 
calling,  Peter  rose  to  be  a  person  of  some 
renown.  But  his  after  history  does  not  be- 
long to  this  "  story  of  a  week." 
There  is  a  hymn  which  says,  — 

"  Often  the  clouds  of  deepest  woe 

So  sweet  a  message  bear, 
Dark  though  they  seem,  'twere  hard  to  find 
A  frown  of  anger  there." 

And  thus  it  was  in  the  experience  of  Peter 
Morrison ;  it  was  so  much  so  that,  as  long  as 
he  lived,  he  loved  to  think  of  his  five  days'  im- 
prisonment, and  starvation,  and  peril,  for  it  was 
then  that  God  met  with  him,  and  revealed  to 
him  his  great  mercy  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
"  Surely,"  he  used  to  say,  "  it  was  none  other 
than  the  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of  heaven 
to  my  soul  —  that  dark  dungeon,  deep  down 
in  a  mine" 


DOWN    IN   A   MINE; 

OR, 

BURIED  ALIVE. 

PART    SECOin). 
CHAPTER    I. 

THE    HARTLEY    NEW    PIT. 

IN  the  first  part  of  this  small  volume,  men- 
tion is  made  of  several  perils  to  which  those 
who  work  in  coal  mines  are  constantly  ex- 
posed ;  and  it  is  remarked  that  each  of  these 
dangers  is  so  fearful  and  destructive  that 
sometimes  half  the  population  of  a  collier  vil- 
lage has  been  cut  off  almost  at  a  stroke.  These 
dangers  arise,  as  the  reader  has  already  been 
informed,  from  what  is  called  choke-damp, 
fire-damp,  the  rushing  in  of  water,  and  the 

falling  in  of  some  part  of  the  mine. 

(123) 


124  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

Another  cause  of  danger  is  also  referred  to, 
namely,  the  breaking  of  machinery  at  the 
mouth  of  the  pit. 

It  is  also  remarked,  that  accidents  in  coal 
mines  are  not  so  frequent  as  they  were  at  one 
time,  on  account  of  the  plans  which  have  been 
contrived  for  lessening  the  various  dangers  to 
which  miners  are  exposed. 

Some  months  have  passed  away  since  this 
was  written,  and  the  writer  little  thought  that, 
before  the  book  should  be  printed,  he  would 
have  to  tell,  in  a  second  part  of  "  Down  in  a 
Mine,"  of  an  accident  more  terrible  than  that 
of  which  he  had  just  given  a  short  account, 
and  that  this  accident  would  arise  from  a 
source  whence  danger  is  least  expected. 

On  Thursday,  the  16th  of  January,  1862, 
the  women  and  children  of  a  collier  village, 
in  Northumberland,  —  such  a  village  as  has 
been  already  described,  —  were  alarmed  by 
tidings  of  an  accident  which  had  just  occurred 
in  the  coal  pit  where  almost  all  the  men  and 
boys  of  the  village  were  at  work.  You  mny 


THE    HARTLEY    NEW   PIT.  125 

be  sure  that  the  sad  news  spread  very  rapidly 
from  one  dwelling  to  another,  and  that  in  a 
short  time  every  ordinary  occupation  was  sus- 
pended, whilst  numbers  of  the  poor  affrighted 
females  hastened  to  the  pit's  mouth  to  learn 
as  much  as  they  could  of  what  had  taken 
place. 

The  story  was  soon  told,  that  the  beam  of 
a  large  pump,  used  for  clearing  the  pit  of 
water,  had  suddenly,  and  without  warning, 
broken ;  that  the  broken  part  of  this  beam 
had  fallen  down  the  shaft,  carrying  with  it 
such  destruction  as  to  completely  block  up 
the  passage  into  the  mine;  and  that  all  who 
were  then  in  the  mine,  were  thus,  at  least  for 
a  time,  buried  alive.  It  was  soon  known,  also, 
that  the  number  of  those  who  were  thus  im- 
prisoned deep  down  in  the  mine,  was  more 
than  two  hundred. 

Something  else  also  was  known,  namely, 
that  at  the  very  time  this  happened,  a  small 
party  of  the  miners  were  being  drawn  up  to 
the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and  that  some,  at  least, 


126  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

of  these  men  had  been  killed  by  the  horrible 
accident. 

The  terror  and  distress  caused  by  this  sor- 
rowful news  was  very  great.  Before  any 
thing  more  could  be  certainly  known,  the 
whole  village  was  in  a  state  of  painful  confu- 
sion. Wives  and  mothers  were  loudly  la- 
menting or  silently  fearing  for  their  husbands 
and  boys  who  were  thus  entombed  ;  and  were 
dreading  further  tidings  respecting  the  poor 
men  who  had  already  lost  their  lives,  and 
whose  names  were  probably  not  at  first 
known. 

Before  giving  any  further  account  of  the 
accident,  however,  I  shall  attempt  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  pit  or  mine  in  which  it  occurred. 

The  name  of  this  colliery  is  the  Hartley  Xew 
Pit.  It  is  a  deep  mine,  though  not  so  deep 
as  some  others,  the  lowest  working  (which  is 
called  the  low  main)  being  six  hundred  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Nearly  a 
hundred  feet  above  this  is  another  working, 
called  the  yard  main  ;  and  still  nearer  the 


THE    HARTLEY    NEW    PIT.  127 

mouth  of  the  pit  is  a  third  working,  called  the 
high  main. 

The  only  entrance  to  this  mine  is  by  a  sin- 
gle shaft,  or  well,  twelve  feet  in  diameter, 
which,  before  the  accident  happened,  was  di- 
vided into  two  equal  parts  by  a  wooden  par- 
tition, called  a  brattice,  which  ran  down  it 
from  top  to  bottom.  One  side  of  this  divided 
shaft  served  as  a  downcast  pit,  by  which  air 
was  conveyed  into  the  workings,  and  which 
having  been  passed  round  them  by  the  means 
ordinarily  used  in  mines,  rushed  to  the  sur- 
face again  by  the  other  half  of  the  shaft,  which 
was  therefore  called  the  upcast.  It  will  be 
understood  that  unless  this  plan  had  been 
adopted,  the  air  in  the  mine  would  have  been 
so  impure  and  poisonous  that  no  person  could 
have  lived  in  it.  And  our  readers  may  also 
be  reminded  that  in  many  mines,  if  not  in  the 
greater  number,  there  are  two  shafts,  some 
distance  apart,  one  of  which  is  the  downcast, 
and  the  other  the  upcast.  If  there  had  been 
two  shafts  to  the  Hartley  New  Pit,  the  sor- 


128  DOWN    IN   A   MINE. 

rowful  event  of  which  I  have  to  tell  would 
have  been  averted. 

It  will  be  understood  that  this  great,  deep 
shaft  had  other  uses  besides  that  of  airing  the 
mine.  Thus,  on  the  downcast  side  were  the 
large  iron  cages  in  which  the  miners  were  let 
down  to  the  workings  and  were  drawn  up  again. 
On  this  side  also  the  coals  were  raised  to  the 
surface;  while  on  the  other,  or  the  upcast 
side,  was  the  machinery  for  pumping  up  water 
from  the  bottom  of  the  mine. 

This  machinery  was  very  powerful,  as  indeed 
it  had  need  to  be ;  for,  besides  the  great  depth 
from  which  the  water  had  to  be  raised,  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  it  to  be  pumped  away,  so 
as  to  enable  the  workings  to  be  carried  on. 
The  mine  being  a  very  wet  mine,  that  is  to 
say,  the  water  coming  into  it  very  fast  from 
numerous  springs,  the  machinery  had  to  be 
kept  constantly  at  work  day  and  night ;  and 
it  will  be  seen  how  necessary  this  must  have 
been  when  it  is  told  that  fifteen  hundred  gal- 
lons of  water  were  thus  pumped  out  of  the 


THE    HARTLEY    NEW    PIT.  129 

mine  every  minute,  or  more  than  two  millions 
of  gallons  in  every  day  of  twenty-four  hours. 
The  pump  was  kept  working  by  steam  power, 
and  it  may  easily  be  supposed  that  every  part 
of  the  machinery  employed  was  of  great 
weight.  It  certainly  was :  for  instance,  the 
large  iron  beam  which,  suspended  by  the 
middle,  like  the  beam  of  a  pair  of  scales, 
ceaselessly  worked  up  and  down  over  the  pit's 
mouth,  weighed  more  than  forty  tons,  or  near- 
ly ninety  thousand  pounds. 

This,  then,  is  a  very  short  description  of  the 
mine  as  it  was  on  the  morning  of  the  16th  of 
January.  At  the  pit's  mouth  all  was  cheer- 
ful activity ;  the  steam  engine  was  steadily  in 
motion,  doing  the  work  of  four  hundred 
horses ;  the  great  beam  of  the  pumping  ma- 
chine was  rising  and  falling ;  a  constant  stream 
of  water  was  pouring  forth  and  passing  away 
from  the  mine ;  while  on  the  other  side  was 
the  windlass  for  letting  down  and  drawing  up 
the  miners.  Already  two  sets  of  men,  who 
had  been  some  hours  at  work  below,  had  been 
9 


130  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

safely  drawn  to  the  surface,  and  others  were 
following. 

Down  in  the  mine  all  was  activity.  Num- 
bers of  men  and  boys  whose  spell  of  work  was 
for  that  time  over,  were  hastening  in  their 
coarse  miner  dresses  to  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft,  naturally  desirous  of  breathing  purer 
air,  and  enjoying  the  daylight  above;  while 
others  who  had  just  arrived,  or  had  not 
worked  out  their  number  of  hours,  were  hew- 
ing the  huge  masses  of  coal  in  the  various 
workings,  or  hurrying  it  away  through  the 
low  galleries  in  corves,  or  patiently  sitting  at 
their  trap  doors  —  those  little  trappers  — 
ready  to  open  and  shut  them  as  occasion  re- 
quired. All  was  deep  gloom,  for  the  light  of 
the  sun  had  never  penetrated  into  those  black 
caverns,  and  only  the  glimmering  of  the  dull 
Davy  lamps  carried  by  each  miner,  served 
partially  to  disperse  the  darkness.  Nay,  the 
darkness  could  not  be  thus  dispersed ;  there 
was  but  light  enough  to  show  how  great  and 
thick  that  darkness  was. 


THE    HARTLEY   XEW   PIT.  131 

And  yet  there  was  cheerfulness  in  the  Hart- 
ley mine  on  that  eventful  morning.  The 
"miners  were  accustomed  to  their  employment, 
and  perhaps  had  no  desire  to  change  it  for 
any  other.  The  mine  was  familiar  to  them; 
and  though  they  knew  their  work  to  be  haz- 
ardous, they  were  so  accustomed  to  its  pecu- 
liar dangers  that  they  had  almost  ceased  to 
think  of  them.  They  knew  also  that  their 
occupation  was  honest,  and  necessary,  and 
manly ;  and  that  though  toilsome  as  well  as 
perilous,  it  brought  with  it  its  reward  in  suffi- 
cient wages  for  the  necessary  comforts  of  life, 
and  for  some  of  its  luxuries.  Yes,  there  was 
cheerfulness  in  that  mine  that  morning. 

And  peace;  yes,  we  may  be  glad  to  feel 
assured  that  there  was  peace  there  —  Chris- 
tian peace,  I  mean  —  the  peace  that  passeth 
understanding,  of  which  an  apostle  speaks; 
the  peace  of  God  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by 
God's  Holy  Spirit,  through  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

I  have  already  told  you  how  the  knowledge 


132  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

of  God,  and  of  the  gospel  of  his  dear  Son,  was 
many  years  ago  taken  to  the  poor  miners,  who 
before  that  time  had  doubtless  been  exceed- 
ingly ignorant  and  vicious;  and  how,  from 
that  happy  time,  a  great  change  has  been  ob- 
servable in  all  coal  mines  as  respects  the  char- 
acter of  the  miners.  And  with  regard  to 
those  who  were  employed  in  the  Hartley  Pit, 
it  is  known  that  they  were  not  only  a  remark- 
ably steady,  industrious,  and  sober  set  of  men, 
but  that  many  among  them  had  that  love  of 
God  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts,  which  is  the 
only  foundation  for  true  and  lasting  peace  on 
earth,  and  a  sure  pledge  of  eternal  happiness 
beyond  the  grave. 

Yes,  truly,  there  were  many  there,  in  that 
dark  mine,  who  on  that  sad  morning  had 
committed  their  bodies  and  souls  to  the  care 
of  their  God  and  Saviour;  some  who  perhaps 
had  but  recently  given  their  hearts  to  him, 
and  others  who  had  long  known  and  trusted 
him,  and  who  could  say  with  the  apostle  Paul, 
u  We  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this 


THE    HAETLEY    NEW    PIT.  133 

tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building 
of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens."  2  Cor.^v.  1.  And  we  may 
well  believe  that  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of 
these  Christian  miners  would  have  been  very 
much  in  accordance  with  the  following  verses 
of  a  hymn,  with  which  some  of  them,  I  dare 
say,  were  acquainted :  — 


"  Lord,  when  I  quit  this  earthly  stage, 
Where  shall  I  fly  but  to  thy  breast 
For  I  have  sought  no  other  house, 
For  I  have  learned  no  other  rest. 

"  I  can  not  live  contented  here 

Without  some  glimpses  of  thy  face  ; 

And  heaven,  without  thy  presence  there, 

Would  be  a  dark  and  tiresome  place. 

"  When  earthly  cares  engross  the  day, 

And  hold  my  thoughts  aside  from  thee, 
Even  shining  hours  of  cheerful  light 
Are  long  and  tedious  years  to  me. 

"  And  if  no  evening  visit's  paid 

Between  my  Saviour  and  my  soul, 
How  dull  the  night,  how  dark  the  shade, 
How  mournfully  the  minutes  roll ! 

"  My  God,  and  can  a  humble  child, 

That  loves  thee  with  a  flame  so  high, 
Be  ever  from  thy  face  exiled, 
Without  the  pity  of  thine  eye  ? 


134  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

"  Impossible  !  for  thine  own  hands 

Have  tied  my  heart  so  fast  to  thee ; 
And  in  thy  Book  the  promise  stands, 
That  where  thou  art,  thy  friends  shall  be." 

These  verses,  I  am  sure,  Would  be  very  suit- 
able, and  also  very  sweet  and  encouraging,  to 
a  true  Christian  "  down  in  a  mine ; "  and  if 
the  exact  words  did  not  come  into  any  one's 
mind  that  morning  in  the  Hartley  New  Pit, 
doubtless  the  sentiments  were  felt. 

Now  let  us  leave  the  mine,  and  go  once 
more  above  ground. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   DISASTER. 

I  HAVE  said  that  two  sets  of  miners  had 
been  safely  drawn  up  from  the  bottom  of  the 
mine  in  the  ordinary  manner,  and  that  an- 
other party  was  on  its  way  upward.  The 
number  in  that  party  were  eight;  and  as 
there  is  no  reason  why  some  of  their  names 
should  not  be  given,  I  will  put  them  down 
here.  They  are:  Ralph  Robson,  George 
Sharp,  and  his  son,  also  named  George,  and 
whose  age  was  only  sixteen  years,  Robert 
Bewick,  William  Brown,  Thomas  Watson, 
and  two  others. 

Well,  while  these  men  were  ascending  the 
shaft,  the  great  beam  of  the  pumping  engine, 
of  which  I  have  spoken,  suddenly  snapped 
asunder ;  and  the  half  of  it  which  was  over 
the  shaft  fell  into  it,  and,  striking  with  its 

(135) 


136  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

great  weight  the  top  of  the  brattice^  or  parti- 
tion, tore  it  all  away,  and  with  it  the  planks 
and  timbers  with  which  the  shaft  was  lined. 
So  sudden  and  unexpected  was  this  accident, 
and  so  rapidly  had  it  taken  place,  that  before 
those  who  were  standing  by  had  time  to  as- 
certain the  cause  of  the  disaster,  the  shaft 
was  in  ruins,  being  blocked  up  by  the  falling 
timber,  and  the  earth  from  the  sides  of  the 
shaft. 

But  what  had  become  of  the  men  who 
were  at  that  very  time  ascending  the  shaft  ? 
I  will  tell  you,  in  the  words  of  one  of  them, 
whose  life  was  preserved. 

"  It  was  about  half  past  ten  when  I  and 
seven  others  got  into  the  cage.  We  had  got 
about  half  way  up,  when  we  heard  a  sudden 
crack  in  the  shaft,  and  a  moment  after  there 
came  down  a  tremendous  crush  of  falling 
timber,  which  struck  the  cage.  Before  we 
were  struck,  something  passed  by  us  down 
the  shaft,  like  a  flash  of  lightning.  The 
crack  we  heard  seemed  close  by  us  in  the 


THE    DISASTER.  137 

shaft  —  it  did  not  come  from  overhead.  It 
might  have  been  one  of  the  spears  (pump 
rods)  breaking,  but  I  should  not  like  to  say. 
We  were  all  thrown  out  of  the  cage  by  the 
shock.  Four  of  us  were  killed  on  the  spot. 
When  we  (those  who  survived)  came  to  con- 
sider, we  concluded  that  the  spears  were 
broken,  as  the  engine  had  stopped ;  and  we 
thought  that  the  shaft  had  closed  up  over  us. 
"  One  of  the  men  in  the  upper  deck  of  the 
cage  had  some  matches  in  his  pocket,  and  we 
struck  a  light.  The  first  thing  I  did  was  to 
examine  the  state  of  the  rapper  ropes  (by 
which  signals  are  given  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top),  and  I  found  them  all  right.  I 
wrapped  a  leathern  belt  round  them,  with 
the  intention  of  climbing  by  them  to  bank ; 
but  one  of  the  men  with  me  made  such  a  stir 
about  his  boy,  who  had  been  carried  away 
down  by  the  falling  timbers,  that  I  slid  down 
the  pumps  to  look  after  him.  I  found  him 
lying  among  a  mass  of  timber.  I  remained 
with  him  until  I  was  rescued.  I  was  the  last 


138  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

man  taken  up.  They  let  down  a  common 
loop  from  the  top  for  me,  and  I  went  up  in 
that." 

It  is  Thomas  Watson  who  tells  this  plain 
and  simple  story.  You  see  he  does  not  at- 
tempt to  make  a  hero  of  himself;  but  was 
there  not  something  heroic  in  his  sliding 
down  by  the  pumps  to  look  after  one  of  his 
companions,  instead  of  following  his  own  first 
instinct  of  self-preservation?  Surely  there 
was.  And  when  he  reached  the  ruins  below, 
what  do  you  suppose  he  did  ?  He  does  not 
himself  tell  us  in  the  short  account  I  have 
just  given ;  but  others  tell  us  for  him,  that, 
finding  his  companion  jammed  in  among  the 
broken  timbers,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to 
release  him,  though  he  was  not  then  dead, 
Thomas  Watson  employed  himself  for  many 
hours  in  praying  with  and  for  his  dying  com- 
panion, and  in  comforting  and  encouraging 
him  in  prospect  of  death.  Nor  did  he  seek 
to  leave  his  poor  friend  until  the  last  sigh  and 
groan  was  uttered,  and  the  last  pain  endured, 


THE    DISASTER.  139 

although  he  himself  had  been  bruised  with 
the  falling  timbers,  and  was  every  moment  in 
danger  of- being  buried  in  the  ruins  of  the 
shaft. 

Was  not  this  like  a  Christian  hero  ?  And 
may  we  not  feel  sure  that  God,  who  is  the 
hearer  and  the  answerer  of  prayer,  heard 
the  prayers  of  these  poor  miners,  and  put 
such  heavenly  comfort  into  their  souls  as  sus- 
tained them  in  the  midst  of  the  terrors  with 
which  they  were  surrounded  ?  May  we  not 
believe  that,  in  those  last  hours  of  his  life, 
while  hopeless  of  human  help,  the  dying 
man's  thoughts  and  faith  were  directed  to  the 
almighty  Saviour,  who  is  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  by  him ; 
and  that  thus  even  his  "  very  pains  and  death 
were  blessed"?  And  may  we  not  also  be 
convinced  that  if  he  who  survived  to  tell  the 
tale  should  live  any  number  of  years  longer, 
no  action  of  his  life  will  be  more  satisfactory 
in  review  than  that  of  his  descending  deeper 
into  that  "horrible  pit,"  instead  of  attempt- 


140  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

ing  to  make  his  escape  from  it;  and  of  his 
remaining  close  to  his  dying  comrade  till 
death  released  him  from  his  sufferings,  in 
order  that  he  might  pour  hope  and  comfort 
into  his  soul  ? 

But  what  were  the  men  at  bank,  or  the 
mouth  of  the  ruined  shaft  doing,  while  Thomas 
Watson  was  thus  employed  below  ?  Be  sure 
they  were  not  idly  looking  on  and  wringing 
their  hands,  or  uttering  loud  lamentations  in 
hopeless  despair  or  useless  sorrow.  As  soon 
as  they  could  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  acci- 
dent, and  its  immediate  consequences,  they 
set  about  to  remedy  it.  Their  first  thought, 
doubtless,  was  of  the  men  in  the  cage ;  and 
their  first  efforts  were  directed  to  their  relief. 

They  soon  ascertained  that  the  shaft  was 
stopped  up  by  the  ruins  of  the  brattice  timber, 
about  thirty  fathoms,  or  a  hundred  and  eighty 
feet,  from  bank,  before  arriving  at  the  high 
main.  There  was  great  difficulty  in  passing  a 
rope  through  this  to  the  men  below.  Indeed, 
so  great  was  this  difficulty,  that  several  hours 


THE    DISASTER.  141 

elapsed  before  they  were  reached,  and  then  it 
was  found  that  only  three  of  the  eight  who 
were  in  the  cage  were  living.  When  they 
were  got  up,  the  timber  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  shaft  was  cleared .  away,  and  steps  were 
taken  to  clear  away  the  timber  below. 

Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  accident  was 
known,  messengers  were  sent  to  the  neigh- 
boring collieries,  and  all  the  best  men  con- 
nected with  them  were  sent  to  the  rescue. 
The  gin  and  rack  were  rigged  and  wrought 
by  an  engine,  as  also  the  crab  worked  by 
men  and  horses.  It  was  determined  not  to 
send  the  timber  and  rubbish  up  to  the  bank, 
but  to  pass  it  into  the  upper  seam.  But  on 
descending  the  shaft,  it  was  found  that  only 
two  men  could  work  at  one  time,  and  in  doing 
so  they  had  to  be  slung  with  ropes  from  the 
bank,  and  were  in  constant  danger  of  them- 
selves being  crushed  or  buried  by  the  loose 
and  falling  sides  of  the  shaft.  Thus  the  work 
went  on  very  slowly  through  the  whole  of 
that  day  and  the  succeeding  night. 


142  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

The  night  was  cold  and  cheerless,  but  by 
the  light  of  the  moon,  which  was  then  at  full, 
numbers  of  people  from  the  surrounding 
country  came  flocking  to  the  Hartley  pit; 
and  there,  through  the  livelong  night,  were 
to  be  seen  the  poor  wives  and  mothers  of  the 
imprisoned  men,  so  far  beyond  their  reach, 
deep  down  in  the  mine.  Not  many  eyes 
were  closed  for  quiet  sleep  in  the  collier  vil- 
lage that  night,  I  think.  And  still  the  ques- 
tions were  put  from  one  to  another,  "Will 
they  be  saved?"  "Will  they  be  saved  to- 
morrow ?  "  "  Will  they  be  saved  at  all  ?  " 


CHAPTER    III. 

CLEARING    THE    SHAFT. 

THE  second  day  dawned  upon  those  who 
were  laboring  to  penetrate  through  the  rained 
shaft,  and  on  those  who  were  anxiously  look- 
ing on.  By  this  time  the  sad  news  had  very 
widely  spread,  that  more  than  two  hundred 
miners  were  inclosed  in  the  mine;  and  from 
all  quarters,  on  foot  and  by  railway,  parties 
of  men  and  women,  belonging  almost  entirely 
to  the  surrounding  mining  population,  kept 
pouring  in  to  the  colliery ;  so  that  by  the  after- 
noon several  thousands  were  gathered  round- 
the  pit's  mouth,  anxious  for  tidings  of  their 
imprisoned  fellow-creatures,  and  filled  with 
sad  forebodings  respecting  their  probable  fate. 

I  have  already  told  you  that  when  the  acci- 
dent happened,  the  miners  were  in  the  low 
main ;  and  had  they  been  confined  to  this 

(143) 


144  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

part  of  the  mine,  their  almost  immediate  de- 
struction would  have  been  certain,  because  of 
the  water  which  kept  pouring  in.  But  as  it 
was  known  that,  besides  the  shaft,  there  was 
also  a  passage  from  the  low  main  to  the  yard 
main,  called  an  " air  staple"  and  that  easy  ac- 
cess through  this  staple  was  afforded  from  cne 
main  to  the  other  by  means  of  a  long  ladder, 
those  above  comforted  themselves  with  reflect- 
ing that  their  poor  companions  had  escaped 
drowning,  and  were  as  yet  safe  in  the  yard 
main.  Another  comfortable  thought  was  that 
the  ah-  in  that  main  was  good,  and  also  that, 
for  a  little  while,  the  prisoners  would  not 
suffer  from  either  hunger  or  thirst,  as  the 
water  there  was  plentiful  and  good,  and  as 
there  was  a  store  of  horse  provender  (most 
likely  oats  and  beans),  which  for  a  time  might 
serve  them  for  food.  It  was  also  known  that 
a  pony  was  in  the  yard  main ;  and  the  people 
above  whispered  to  one  another  that,  rather 
than  die  of  starvation,  it  would  be  possible  to 
live  for  a  little  while  on  pony-flesh,  as  no 


CLEARING    THE    SHAFT.  145 

doubt  it  would.  Besides  this  pony  there 
were  several  horses  in  the  mine;  but  these 
were  in  the  low  main,  and  were  doubtless 
soon  drowned. 

It  may  easily  be  supposed  that  not  only 
those  who  were  interested  in  the  Hartley 
mine,  as  engineers  and  managers,  were  untir- 
ing in  their  exertions  for  the  rescue  of  their 
fellow-workmen,  but  many  persons  of  much 
knowledge  and  experience  living  in  that  part 
of  the  country  brought  resources  to  the  help 
of  the  anxious  men  at  the  bank*  These  gen- 
tlemen made  a  careful  inspection  of  the  state 
of  the  pit,  and  offered  suggestions  as  to  the 
most  desirable  plan  of  operations. 

Among  them  was  Mr.  Coulson,  whose  busi- 
ness was  that  of  sinking  mine  shafts,  and  who, 
being  at  Newcastle  on  the  day  after  the  acci- 
dent, and  hearing  tidings  of  it,  started  off  di- 
rectly to  see  how  matters  were  getting  on. 
Finding  the  state  of  things  so  serious,  he 
offered  his  services,  which  were  accepted ; 
and  then  he  immediately  descended  the  pit. 
10 


146  DOWN    IN    A    MOTE. 

This  was  about  five  o'clock  on  Friday  after- 
noon, and  more  than  thirty  hours  after  the 
accident  happened. 

Mr.  Cqulson  found  the  shaft  in  a  very  shat- 
tered state ;  all  the  timber  was  swept  away, 
both  of  the  main  brattice  and  of  the  side 
lining,  except  here  and  there  where  there 
was  a  timber  hanging  loose  from  the  side. 
About  five  fathoms,  or  thirty  feet,  above  the 
yard  seam,  all  the  rubbish  had  stuck  fast  in 
the  shaft,  and  presented  very  discouraging 
obstacles  to  its  removal.  Mr.  Coulson  set  to 
work  with  a  will,  however,  in  directing  and 
assisting  this  dangerous  and  difficult  opera- 
tion ;  and  so  the  second  day  closed  in. 

Another  day  passed  away,  and  still  no  help 
had  reached  the  poor  miners  in  their  dark  and 
dreary  dungeon.  Late  that  evening,  a  gentle- 
man who  was  on  the  spot  wrote  thus :  "  After 
I  left  the  colliery  last  night,  the  work  for  the 
removal  of  the  rubbish  and  broken  timber 
obstructing  the  shaft,  went  on  briskly;  but 


CLEARING    THE    SHAFT.  147 

about  ten  o'clock  some  of  the  walls  of  the 
shaft  gave  way,  and  little  could  be  done  until 
this  was  bratticed  up.  This  morning  the 
workmen  were  thirty  feet  or  more  from  the 
engine  drift  of  the  yard  seam,  from  which  it 
is  hoped  the  unfortunate  men  and  lads  will  be 
rescued  when  reached.  The  distance  has  been 
reduced  to-night  to  less  than  eighteen  feet, 
and  by  to-morrow  morning  at  latest,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  the  obstruction  will  be  removed  so 
far  down  as  this  drift,  and  that  the  poor  fel- 
lows, if  alive,  of  which  there  is  every  hope, 
will  be  rescued." 

It  was  on  this  day  or  the  preceding  night, 
that  the  lifeless  bodies  of  four  of  the  poor 
men  who  had  been  thrown  out  of  the  cage 
were  found ;  these  were  conveyed  to  the 
upper  seam. 

I  have  said  that  no  help  had  reached  the 
poor  imprisoned  miners ;  and  true  it  is  no 
human  help  had  reached  them.  But  may  it 
not  be  hoped  and  cordially  believed  that  the 
gracious  help  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  had  been 


148  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

given  them  to  cast  their  burdened,  sorrow- 
laden  souls  on  the  mercy  of  God  by  faith  in 
his  dear  Son?  And  would  any  help  from 
their  fellow-men  for  their  perishable  bodies  be 
equal  to  this  divine  help  for  their  never-dying 
souls?  I  have  already* said  that  among  these 
poor  miners  were  many  who  knew  the  grace 
of  God  by  happy  experience;  who  had  re- 
ceived pardon  of  sin ;  whose  souls  had  been 
sanctified ;  and  who  could  truly  give  thanks 
to  their  heavenly  Father  who  had  made  them 
"  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of 
the  saints  in  light."  And  we  shall  see  pres- 
ently that  these  pious  men  were  enabled  to 
glorify  God  by  humble  prayer  at  the  throne  of 
grace,  and  by  exhorting  those  around  them  to 
flee  for  refuge,  if  they  had  not  yet  done  so,  to 
lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  them  in  the 
gospel.  And  shall  we  not  believe  that  God 
mercifully  heard  these  prayers?  and  though 
it  was  not  his  heavenly  sovereign  will  that 
any  of  these  poor  miners  should  be  rescued 
from  temporal  death,  who  shall  dare  to  say 


CLEARING   THE    SHAFT.  149 

that  many  of  them  were  not  led  in  those  sol- 
emn, awful  hours,  if  for  the  first  time,  to  sor- 
row for  sin  "  after  a  godly  sort,"  and  to  cast 
their  souls  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for 
eternal  salvation? 

And  we  know  who  it  is  that  has  said,  "  Him 
that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out ; "  and  again,  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  rea- 
son together :  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they 
be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool," 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    SABBATH. 

THE  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  was  on 
earth,  told  his  disciples  that  "the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath." 
He  asked  the  Jews,  "  What  man  shall  there 
be  among  you  that  shall  have  one  sheep,  and 
if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath  day,  will  he 
not  lay  hold  on  it,  and  lift  it  out  ? "  and  he 
himself  did  many  works  of  mercy  and  benev- 
olence on  Sabbath  days. 

Had  any  Christian  man,  ignorant  of  what 
had  happened,  passed  by  the  bank  of  the 
Hartley  mine  on  the  19th  of  January,  which 
was  Sunday,  he  would  no  doubt  have  felt 
shocked  at  seeing  work  very  busily  going  on, 
with  machinery  in  operation,  and  a  great 
many  men  laboring  in  a  variety  of  ways,  with 
such  earnestness  and  seriousness  as  is  seldom 
witnessed.  (150; 


THE    SABBATH.  151 

"  Ah,"  the  spectator  might  have  said,  "these 
men  must  be  very  ignorant  or  very  depraved. 
They  are  so  anxious  to  obtain  the  bread  that 
perisheth,  that  they  care  nothing  about  their 
souls.  Have  they  never  heard  that  there  is 
such  a  book  as  the  Bible,  and  such  a  com- 
mandment from  the  God  who  made  them  as 
this :  '  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it 
holy'?" 

But,  then,  had  some  one  said,  "  These  men 
whom  you  judge  to  be  so  ignorant  of  what  is 
right,  or  so  regardless  of  God,  are  really  act- 
ing in  obedience  to  his  commands,  for  they 
are  laboring  hard  to  save  precious  lives  —  the 
lives  of  two  hundred  fellow-creatures,  who  are 
exposed  to  danger  and  death  down  in  yonder 
pit,"  how  entirely -would  the  stranger's  opin- 
ion have  been  altered!  Instead  of  blaming 
them  for  their  eager  exertions,  he  would  have 
praised  them  for  their  humanity  and  zeal ;  and, 
in  the  place  of  praying  God  to  pardon  what 
he  had  ignorantly  supposed  to  be  their  great 
wickedness,  he  would  have  given  thanks  for 


152  DOWN    IX    A    MINE. 

that  religion  which  teaches  men  to  love  their 
neighbors  as  themselves,  and  would  have  be- 
sought God  to  bless  and  prosper  the  work  of 
their  hands. 

The  Bible  tells  us  not  to  judge  by  the  out- 
ward appearance,  but  to  judge  righteous  judg- 
ment. 

The  work  went  on  all  the  Sunday  long,  as 
it  had  gone  on  all  through  the  preceding  night ; 
and  yet  the  miners  below  were  shut  up  in  the 
pit,  where  they  had  been  more  than  three 
days. 

One  thing  encouraged  the  working  parties 
above  to  hope,  and  to  increase  their  efforts,  if 
possible.  It  was  this:  about  midnight  of  Sat- 
urday the  imprisoned  men  had  been  distinctly 
heard  —  as  they  also  had  been  at  intervals  all 
through  the  previous  day  —  working  for  their 
own  release,  and  signaling  by  sounds  to  their 
deliverers.  This  was  joyful  intelligence  to 
give  to  the  crowds  around  the  mine,  and  to 
send  to  the  collier  village.  There  was  yet 
hope  that  the  men  and  boys  might  be  saved. 


THE    SABBATH.  153 

And  while  men  were  thus  working  with  all 
their  strength  for  this  purpose,  and  others  by 
thousands  were  gathered  round  to  witness  the 
deliverance,  prayers  were  publicly  put  up  to 
God  in  churches  and  chapels  for  many  miles 
round,  as  far  as  the  news  of  the  accident  had 
spread,  as  well  as  more  privately  offered  in 
hundreds  of  families,  or  yet  more  secretly,  by 
thousands  of  praying  men  and  women,  in  their 
closets,  or  from  their  hearts  when  no  words 
were  spoken,  and  when  none  but  God  was 
near. 

Every  where,  in  true  Christian  souls,  we 
may  be  quite  sure  those  prayers  were,  that 
God  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  bless  and 
prosper  the  means  adopted  for  the  rescue  of 
the  men  and  boys,  if  it  were  his  will ;  but  if 
otherwise,  and  his  decree  had  gone  forth  that 
should  they  die  at  that  time  in  the  mine,  in- 
stead of  a  few  years,  or  months,  or  days  later,, 
in  the  more  ordinary  course  of  events,  yet 
that  he  would,  by  his  good  and  Holy  Spiritj 
prepare  them  for  this  immediate  death* 


154  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  prayers  were  offered 
also  for  the  poor  wives  and  mothers  of  the 
miners,  that  God  would  give  them  patience 
and  resignation  to  his  will,  whatever  that 
might  be;  and  that  this  solemn  providence 
might  lead  such  of  them  as  were  careless  and 
unconcerned  to  God,  who  alone  can  truly  and 
effectually  comfort  those  who  are  cast  down. 
As  little  doubt  is  there  that  constant  prayers 
ascended  to  God  on  behalf  of  the  men  who 
were  employed  in  the  hazardous  work  of 
making  a  way  into  the  mine. 

For,  indeed,  this  was  a  labor  of  very  great 
danger.  The  men  could  only  descend  by 
twos  or  threes  into  the  blocked-up  shaft. 
They  had  to  be  suspended  by  ropes  as  they 
worked ;  and  then,  when  so  deep  down  that 
only  a  glimmering  of  light  was  visible-  above 
them,  they  were  every  minute  exposed  to  the 
closing  in  of  the  pit  above  them,  or  to  loose 
earth  and  stones,  from  the  now  unprotected 
shaft,  falling  down  upon  them  with  fatal  force. 

And  this  fatal  accident  did  nearly  happen ; 


THE    SABBATH.  155 

for  the  torrents  of  water  which  poured  down 
the  sides  of  the  shaft  washed  away  the  stones, 
and  there  was  a  heavy  fall  while  one  work- 
man was  below.  But,  by  God's  mercy,  he 
escaped  unhurt,  though  there  was  scarcely 
more  than  space  enough  for  him  to  be  drawn 
through  the  mass  of  earth  and  stones  which 
had  fallen.  After  this,  the  workmen  were 
obliged  to  leave  off  clearing  away  the  rubbish 
until  the  sides  of  the  shaft  were  made  more 
secure. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  to  say  that  on  Sat- 
urday night  the  last  of  the  five  men  killed  in 
the  cage  was  found  in  the  rubbish,  and  the 
dead  body  was  brought  up  and  laid  with  the 
others.  And  so,  while  almost  all  in  the  col- 
lier village  were  trembling  with  fearful  appre- 
hension as  to  what  sad  intelligence  a  day  or 
an  hour,  or  even  a  few  minutes,  might  bring 
to  them,  there  were  some  upon  whom  the 
blow  had  already  fallen. 

Thus  the  short  hours  of  daylight  of  that 
mournful  Sunday  passed  away ;  and  when,  by 


156  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

the  deep  red  glare  of  the  lighted  coal  heaps 
around  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  the  work  was 
continued,  the  fear  that  all  this  labor  for  the 
saving  of  life  would  be  in  vain,  moistened 
many  a  cheek,  though  it  weakened  no  single 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    WORK   CONTINUED. 

MONDAY  came ;  but  no  human  help  had  yet 
reached  the  miners.  And  here  I  may  copy 
some  portions  of  another  letter  written  on  the 
morning  of  that  day. 

"  Now  that  the  shaft  is  made  complete  and 
safe,  it  is  expected  that  the  work  of  removing 
the  rubbish  will  go  on  rapidly.  In  fact,  some 
good  lifts  of  timber  have  been  made  this 
morning.  .  .  .  The  sinkers  are  within  twelve 
feet  of  the  furnace  drift,  and  the  greatest  con- 
fidence is  expressed  that,  when  they  reach  it, 
immediate  communication  can  be  opened  with 
the  men  and  lads  below  in  the  yard  seam ;  and 
even  if  they  can  not  get  them  .up  thence  to 
bank,  strong,  active  relays  of  pitmen  and 
miners  can  soon  clear  the  shaft  from  the  yard 
seam.  .  .  .  There  is  an  arched  way  in  the 

(157) 


158  DOWN    IN    A   MINE. 

yard  seam  leading  from  the  shaft  to  the  staple, 
up  which  the  men  are  supposed  to  have  es- 
caped from  the  low  main,  only  six  feet  in 
height.  The  whole  of  the  buried  party  ( il 
alive,  and  in  the  yard  seam  )  will  be  gathered 
together  in  the  archway.  It  is  not  known 
whether  they  have  a  fire,  but  it  is  certain  that 
they  have  a  good  supply  of  oil  for  their  lamps 
for  some  days  to  come. 

"The  bodies  of  the  five  men  killed  in  the 
shaft  on  Thursday  were  brought  up  from  the 
high  seam  this  morning,  and  carried  to  their 
homes. 

"The  labors  of  the  past  four  days  in  the 
shaft  have  gone  on  with  wonderful  order  and 
regularity.  There  has  been  no  noise  or  confu- 
sion at  bank,  as  the  rubbish  sent  up  the  shaft 
has  been  stowed  away  in  the  high  seam ;  the 
only  sounds  breaking  the  silence  at  the  pit's 
mouth,  which  has  been  kept  quite  clear  of 
idlers,  being  the  shouts  of  the  workmen : 
'Bend  up  the  gin.'  'Bend  up  the  jack.' 
4  Heave  up  the  crab.' 


THE    WOKK    CONTINUED.  159 

"After  Friday  night  the  wives  and  children 
of  the  buried  workmen  were  induced  to  leave 
the  pit-heap,  and  have  been  kept  away,  which 
has  been  a  great  relief  to  the  working  party. 
Dr.  Davison,  the  colliery  surgeon,  relieved 
now  and  then  by  Dr.  Pyle  and  other  surgeons, 
has  been  in  attendance  for  any  emergency 
since  the  first  hour  that  he  received  informa- 
tion of  the  catastrophe.  Mr.  Carr,  *  with  Mr. 
Humble,  and  the  other  officials  of  the  pit,  ap- 
pear to  be  neaply  worn  out  with  their  four 
nights'  and  days'  labor  and  anxiety.  Mr. 
Coulson,  the  master-sinker,  however,  who  has 
had  vast  experience  in  shaft  work,  and  under 
whose  directions  the  tedious  process  of  remov- 
ing the  obstruction  has  been  conducted,  is 
bearing  up  well. 

"  The  anxiety  of  every  one  connected  with 
the  district  is  becoming  more  intense  every 
hour  as  the  time  wears  on,  and  the  fate  of  the 
poor  men  and  lads  still  hangs  in  the  balance. 

*  Who  was  one  of  the  owners  of  the  mine. 


160  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

Last  night  —  the  fourth  of  weary  watching 
by  the  families  of  the  entombed  men  — 
was  one  of  extreme  anguish  in  their  homes, 
though  hope,  and  the  report  of  the  voices  of 
the  buried  men  being  heard  in  the  shaft,  kept 
up  the  hearts  of  the  women  and  children 
wonderfully. 

"  Very  many  of  the  men  have  families ;  and 
indeed  they  number  nearly  the  whole  working 
male  population  of  the  village.  One  poor 
woman  has  a  husband  and  six  children,  with 
a  boy  whom  she  and  her  husband  brought  up, 
buried  in  the  pit;  and  many  other  persons 
are  in  no  better  position.  One  man  is  reported 
to  have  taken  his  little  boy  down  with  him  at 
nine  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning  to  show 
him  the  pit,  which  was  a  little  more  than  an 
hour  before  the  accident  took  place." 

Two  hours  after  commencing  writing  the 
above,  the  writer  goes  on  to  say :  "  I  have 
just  returned  from  a  second  visit  to  the  pit. 
The  work  is  going  on  steadily.  The  last  re- 


THE    WORK    CONTINUED.  161 

port  from  the  shaft  is,  that  there  is  a  space  or 
hollow  in  the  obstruction,  about  six  feet  deep, 
and  that  the  working  party  can  hear  the  loose 
rubbish  falling  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  pit. 
Mr.  Coulson  and  four  picked  men  have  just 
descended,  and  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  a 
communication  will  be  opened  this  afternoon. 

"  An  immense  number  of  people  were  gath- 
ering round  the  pit  this  forenoon;  and  the 
anxiety  of  the  wives  and  families  of  the  poor 
fellows  has  become  intense  since  it  was  known 
that  they  might  be  reached  this  afternoon," 

Six  or  seven  hours  later  the  following  mes- 
sage was  written :  — 

"At  one  o'clock  to-day,  Mr.  Coulson,  the 
master-sinker,  sent  up  word  that  he  hoped  the 
men  might  be  reached  in  four  hours.  Every 
preparation  was  made,  and  a  great  number  of 
surgeons  were  in  attendance,  and  are  still 
waiting.  But  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many 
hours  will  elapse  before  the  men  are  reached. 

"No  tongue  can  tell  nor  pen  describe  the 
excitement  and  anguish  prevailing  here  at  the 
11 


102"  DOWN    IX    A    MINE. 

thought  that  these  poor  creatures  have  to 
pass  another  gloomy  night  in  their  terrible 
prison-house.  .  .  .  The  work  in  the  shaft  is  of 
the  very  slowest  and  most  tedious  character. 

"  Once  more  the  men  have  come  to  bank, 
and  once  again  a  more  favorable  statement  is 
made.  .  .  .  The  men  work  steadily  among  the 
wood  and  small  stones ;  and  while  they  work 
they  are  gratified  by  hearing  the  sound  of 
pebbles  falling  from  underneath  the  obstruct- 
ing material,  and  this  proves,  beyond  doubt, 
that  the  hoped-for  vacancy  must  exist,  and  as 
soon  as  the  firmly  fixed  portion  of  material  is 
once  loosened,  the  long  hoped-for  fall  will 
take  place. 

"  While  the  work  proceeds,  the  water  falls 
down  amain  from  the  craggy  sides  above ;  but 
no  danger  of  further  falls  is  dreaded.  .  .  . 

"Those  only  who  descend  the  shaft,  and 
work  for  the  removal  of  the  knotty  obstruc- 
tions they  find  there,  can  form  a  correct  opin- 
ion of  the  task  on  which  they  are  engaged.  .  .  „ 


TOE    WORK    CONTINUED.  •   163 

"  The  accounts  from  the  pit  are  very  gloomy. 
The  hole  has  been  made  larger,  and  is  sunk 
near  the  seam. 

"  A  slight  fall  has  blocked  up  the  aperture, 
but  this  obstacle  is  expected  to  be  removed  in 
half  an  hour.  .  .  . 

"  Discouraging  news  reached  the  bank.  Mr. 
Wilkinson,  one  of  the  men  in  charge  of  the 
working  party,  was  sent  down  to  examine  the 
hole.  He  started  with  the  seven  o'clock  shift 
of  men,  and  remained  until  nearly  ten  o'clock. 
In  this  time  the  men  were  directed  to  apply 
their  efforts  vigorously  to  the  enlargement 
and  further  sinking  of  this  aperture  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  furnace  shaft.  They  did  so 
with  a  will.  .  .  . 

"Mr.  Wilkinson  was  brought  to  bank  suf- 
fering from  the  effects  of  foul  air." 

This  was  at  eleven  o'clock  on  Monday  night. 

Five  times  the  wintery  sun  had  set  and  risen, 
and  now  on  the  sixth  day  (Tuesday)  almost 
all  hope  had  disappeared.  Way  had  not  yet 


164  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

been  made  down  the  shaft,  though  all  night 
long,  as  before,  men  had  been  working  to 
effect  this.  And  to  add  to  this  discourage- 
ment, it  was  remembered  that  no  voices  had 
been  heard  from  below  since  one  o'clock  on 
Sunday.  True,  the  imprisoned  men  might 
have  retreated  to  the  further  extremity  of  the 
yard  main  or  seam ;  and  they  might  be  too 
exhausted  with  fasting  or  sickness,  or  too  dis- 
couraged by  hope  delayed,  to  have  strength 
or  energy  to  cry  out  more,  although  they 
might  yet  live.  But  for  all  this,  men  looked 
sadly  upon  one  another  as  they  went  on  with 
their  arduous  labor,  while  the  crowds  around 
moved  about  uneasily  and  in  great  excite- 
ment ;  and  though  they  knew  not  why,  they 
felt  dissatisfied  with  the  slow  progress  of  the 
work  of  deliverance,  as  though  not  sufficient 
earnestness  was  shown  in  it.  They  fancied, 
also,  that  there  was  bad  news  from  below 
which  was  kept  from  them. 

And  the  poor  women  and  children  in  the 
collier  village  —  think  how  the  hope  deferred, 


THE    WOKK    CONTINUED.  165 

through  five  long  days  and  longer  nights,  had 
made  their  hearts  sick!  and  how  at  length, 
with  bated  breath,  and  whispered  words,  and 
silent  tears,  and  suppressed  sobs,  they  spoke  to 
each  other  of  their  common  grief ! 
Here  is  the  story  of  this  sixth  day :  — 
Another  danger  to  the  men  engaged  in  the 
benevolent  work  of  deliverance  was  by  this 
time  proved  to  exist.  This  was  what  the 
miners  call  a  stytJie,  or  a  volume  of  bad  air  or 
poisonous  gas  escaping  from  the  mine.  I 
have  already  spoken,  in  the  earlier  part  of  this 
book,  of  choke-damp  ;  and  the  gas  which  was 
now  dreaded  is  something  of  that  nature.  It 
is  called  carbonic  oxide  gas,  and  is  caused  by 
the  fumes  of  the  furnaces  which  are  necessary 
in  mines  for  keeping  up  ventilation.  So,  you 
see,  the  very  means  taken  to  'keep  off  one 
danger  gives  rise  to  another,  though  not  so 
great. 

But  now  that  the  shaft  was  closed,  it  was 
feared  that  this  gas  in  the  mine,  having  no 
escape,  would  accumulate,  and,  as  soon  as  an 


166  DOWN   IN   A  MINE. 

opening  was  made,  would  rush  upward  and 
destroy  the  lives  of  those  who  were  exposed 
to  it  in  the  shaft. 

It  was  from  the  effects  of  this  gas  that  Mr. 
Wilkinson  was  brought  up  to  bank  almost  in- 
sensible; and  not  long  afterward  others  of 
the  workers  had  a  still  narrower  escape  from 
destruction.  They  were  clearing  away  the 
rubbish,  and  rejoicing  that  certainly  the  poor 
imprisoned  miners  would  now  soon  be  reached, 
when  there  was  a  sudden  fall  of  loose  stones 
from  that  rubbish  into  the  mine  below ;  and 
at  the  same  instant  rose  this  poisonous  gas, 
finding  its  way  through  the  obstruction,  and 
almost  overpowering  the  workmen.  Happily 
they  had  strength  enough  left  to  signal  for 
help,  and  help  came;  but  when  they  were 
drawn  up  to  bank  they  were  nil  nearly  sense- 
less, and  it  was  for  a  time  believed  that  one 
of  them  was  dying.  Their  companions  who 
went  to  their  assistance  were  also  seriously 
affected  with  the  gas ;  and  the  work  had  again 
to  be  suspended  until  means  were  devised  for 
the  security  of  the  workers  in  the  shaft. 


THE    WORK    COXTIXUIID.  167 

It  may  bo  supposed  that  this  new  danger 
would  destroy  all  remaining  hope  of  saving 
the  poor  men  and  lads  below.  For,  if  this  gas 
had  proved  so  nearly  fatal  to  those  in  the  shaft, 
must  it  not  long  before  this  have  destroyed 
all  human  life  in  the  mine  ? 

This  was  a  question  which  many  did  ask, 
we  may  be  sure ;  and  the  answer  to  it  could 
not  be  very  hopeful.  Yet  there  were  some 
who  said  that  this  deadly  gas  had,  perhaps,  not 
spread  through  all  the  parts  of  the  mine,  and 
that  there  might  be  pure  air  below,  even 
while  it  was  so  foul  in  the  shaft. 

The  plan  adopted  for  clearing  the  shaft  of 
this  foul  air,  was  by  making  a  canvas  brattice, 
to  take  the  place  and  answer  the  end  of  the 
wooden  one  that  had  been  destroyed.  But  a 
great  many  hours  was  needed  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  brattice ;  and  until  it  was  com- 
pleted no  one  could  remain  any  length  of 
time  in  the  shaft  and  live. 

And  in  this  state  of  terrible  uncertainty  and 
increased  apprehension  another  night  passed 
away. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   NEW   BRATTICE. 

WITH  brave  hearts  and  willing  hands  the 
pitmen,  who  had  so  many  days  and  nights 
been  taking  turns  in  their  anxious  and  dan- 
gerous work,  were  ready  again  to  enter  upon 
it.  I  think  that  inaction  was  worse  to  them 
than  labor,  while  they  remembered  the  two 
hundred  prisoners,  so  deep  down  beneath  the 
very  ground  on  which  they  stood,  or  rested 
by  the  numerous  blazing  fires  which  burned 
day  and  night  around  the  pit's  mouth. 

But  they  were  compelled  to  wait  for  the 
making  and  fixing  of  the  canvas  brattice. 

And  would  you  wonder  if  told  that  in  all 
these  hours  of  terrible  waiting,  the  poor  wives 
and  mothers  in  that  collier  village,  bowed 
down  with  grief  which  no  words  can  express, 
turned  away  from  those  who  would  have 

(168) 


THE    NEW    BRATTICE.  169 

comforted  them  and  encouraged  them  yet  to 
hope?  Would  it  seem  strange  to  you  that, 
frenzied  with  their  deep  sorrow,  they  were 
ready  to  reproach  even  those  who  were  risk- 
ing their  own  lives  on  their  behalf,  with  in- 
difference and  lukewarmness  ?  Would  you 
have  been  surprised,  had  you  been  there,  to 
have  heard  words  of  impatience  and  mur- 
muring, with  loud,  despairing  shrieks  of  "Give 
us  back  our  husbands  and  fathers  —  our  broth- 
ers and  sons"? 

I  know  not  how  this  might  be.  Possibly 
some  of  those  sad  mourners  were  wild  in  their 
sorrow  and  loud  in  their  complaints;  but  — 
ah,  listen  !  —  it  may  bring  tears  to  your  eyes, 
but  it  will  bring  good  to  your  souls  as  well, 
to  hear  those  whispered  words  of  resignation 
and  trust  in  God,  from  this  cottage  and  that, 
and  from  more  than  these,  where  Christian 
hearts  are  stricken  with  grief.  "Though  he 
slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him ; "  "  it  is 
the  Lord,  let  him  do  as  seemeth  good  in  his 
sight;"  "the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath 


170  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

taken  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord ; "  "  although  the  fig  tree  shall  not  blos- 
som, neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines;  the 
labor  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall 
yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from 
the  fold  ;  .  .  .  yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I 
will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation." 

Can  you  not  believe  that  such  thoughts 
as  these  did  spring  up  in  the  souls  of  some 
among  those  deeply  care-burdened,  watching 
women  on  this  day  of  their  sorrow,  when  they 
felt  and  secretly  knew  that  hope  was  gone  ? 
And  may  we  not  be  sure  that  in  the  multi- 
tude of  their  distracting  thoughts  within  them, 
God's  comforts  did  sustain  and  delight  their 
souls,  so  that  they  could  almost  have  said,  — 

"  Since  I  can  trust  my  all  with  God, 

In  sorrow's  fearful  hour, 
Bow,  all  resigned,  beneath  his  rod, 

And  bless  his  awful  power, 
A  joy  springs  up  amid  distress, 
A  fountain  in  ihe  wilderness  "  ? 

Or,  should  it  be  almost  too  much  to  expect 
such  strong  faith  from  such  tried  Christians, 


THE    NEW    BRATTICE.  171 

in  the  very  depth  of  their  deep  sufferings,  we 
may  be  sure  that  from  their  bursting  hearts 
would  ascend,  and  did  ascend,  this  prayer :  — 
"Lord,  help  us  to  say,  'Thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven ; '  help  us  to  be 
followers  of  the  blessed  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
thy  beloved  Son,  and  feel  in  our  hearts,  l  The 
cup  which  our  Father  giveth  us,  shall  we 
not  drink  it  ? '  Help  us  to  take  up  our  cross ; 
and,  Lord,  dear  Lord,  help  us  to  bear  it ! " 

And  do  you  think  that  the  "  dear  Lord " 
did  not  give  his  help  at  this  time  of  need  ? 
Ah,  are  we  not  sure  that  he  did,  according  to 
his  promise  to  all  who  trust  in  him :  "  When 
thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with 
thee;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not 
overflow  thee :  when  thou  walkest  through 
the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned,  neither 
shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee"? 

And  there  were  earthly  comforters,  too, 
whose  kind  and  gentle  words  and  generous 
deeds  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  in  that  col- 


172  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

Her  village.  Will  the  weeping  widows  (for 
those  wives  are  widows  now)  ever  cease  to 
remember  that  a  widowed  queen,  all  but 
forgetting  her  own  recent  sorrow,  or  remem- 
bering it  only  to  make  her  sympathy  the 
stronger,  sent  loving  messages  from  day  to 
day,  from  her  palace  to  those  humble  cot- 
tages? and  when  all  was  over,  and  the  worst 

was  known, .  But  I  have  not  yet  come 

to  this  part  of  the  sad  history. 

It  was  the  seventh  day,  then,  of  this  great 
sorrow,  and  for  a  while  the  active  work  of 
making  a  way  to  the  yard  main  had  been 
stayed.  But  at  noon  the  following  account 
was  written:  — 

"The  work  has  been  going  on  vigorously 
in  the  shaft,  and  the  canvas  brattice  is  now 
complete.  The  men  are  securing  it  with 
bunting ;  the  sides  of  the  shaft  are  also  being 
made  very  secure.  Two  gentlemen  have  been 
down  to  the  high  seam,  and  have  recently 
come  to  bank ;  they  report  very  favorably  of 
an  improvement  in  the  air,  and  the  shaft 


THE    NEW   BRATTICE.  173 

seems  to  be  clearing  itself  of  the  foul  vapors. 
It  is  confidently  expected  that  the  yard  seam 
may  be  reached  in  a  few  hours,  as  it  is  sup- 
posed that  much  of  the  stones  and  rubbish 
has  fallen  from  between  the  timbers  to  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft.  .  .  .  About  fifty  picked 
miners  have  been  employed  by  shifts  in  the 
operations  that  have  gone  on  in  the  shaft. 
Two  sections  of  the  most  experienced  men  in 
the  coal  trade  are  banded  together  for  the 
purpose  of  exploring  the  workings  as  soon  as 
the  state  of  the  air  will  admit." 

This  is  the   last  uncertain  news   that  was 
sent  away  from  New  Hartley. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SORROW    AND    CONSOLATION. 

HAVING  read  this  history  so  far,  you  will 
be  prepared  for  its  sorrowful  termination, 
which  shall  be  told  in  a  few  words. 

On  the  evening  of  the  seventh  day,  as  soon 
as  the  shaft  was  at  all  safe  to  venture  into 
again,  two  brave  men  offered  to  make  another 
attempt.  They  were,  therefore,  lowered ;  and, 
with  much  difficulty,  they  at  length  succeeded 
in  forcing  a  passage  for  themselves  into  the 
yard  seam. 

With  what  anxiety  their  return  was 
watched,  and  how  long  those  minutes  of 
suspense  must  have  seemed,  may  easily  be 
imagined.  But  at  last  they  reappeared  in 
the  shaft,  and  were  drawn  up  to  bank. 

They  had  a  sad  tale  to  tell.  Of  all  the  im- 

(174) 


SORROW    AND    CONSOLATION.  175 

prisoned  miners  below,  old  and   young,  not 
one  was  found  to  be  living ! 

There  is  no  need  to  describe  the  solemn, 
mournful  scene  witnessed  by  these  two  men, 
.and  others  who  afterward  descended  into  the 
mine ;  nor  to  tell  of  the  dead  being  gradually 
brought  to  bank,  and  placed  in  coffins  hurried- 
ly prepared  for  them.  Neither  is  it  necessary 
to  speak  here  of  the  coroner's  inquest  held 
concerning  the  death  of  these  poor  miners, 
nor  of  the  burial  of  their  bodies.  But  we 
may  linger  in  imagination  yet  a  little  while 
around  the  shaft,  and  suffer  ourselves  to  think 
on  what  has  passed  there  from  day  to  day 
through  a  whole  week  —  of  the  hopes,  and 
fears,  and  anxious  cares  which  have  exercised 
so  many  minds.  "We  may  look,  too,  at  the 
hundreds  of  pitmen  from  other  collieries  who 
have  gathered  round,  and  who  hear  the  tid- 
ings at  last,  that  all  their  fellow-pitmen  below 
are  dead  ;  and  who,  while  hearing  them,  bow 
their  heads  in  solemn  silence,  and  suffer  the 
big  tears  to  roll  unheeded  down,  their  dusky 


176  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

cheeks.  And  we  may  ask  if  they  and  we 
ourselves  are  prepared  to  meet  our  God  in 
death  and  judgment,  as  those  poor  men  below 
have  been  called  to  meet  him  ? 

And  in  the  consoling  hope  that  many  of 
those  now  dead  miners  were  prepared  by 
faith  in  Christ  and  the  renewal  of  their  fallen 
natures  by  the  holy,  sanctifying  Spirit,  thus 
to  meet  their  God,  we  may  withdraw  our 
thoughts  from  the  sight  which  has  shocked 
so  many  hearts,  saying  to  ourselves,  "Be  ye 
also  ready;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think 
not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh." 

Now  let  us  turn  for  a  little  while  to  those 
who  lived  to  sorrow  for  the  dead. 

You  have  already  read  about  collier  vil- 
lages, and  this  at  Hartley  is  like  many  others. 
Whatever  it  may  be  outside  the  cottages, 
there  are  signs  of  much  comfort  within.  The 
rooms  and  chambers  are  neat  and  clean  ;  there 
is  furniture  which  tells  of  sufficient  earnings, 
and  sometimes  of  something  else  too;  for, 


SORROW    AXD    CONSOLATION.  177 

however  large  a  man's  earnings  are,  if  he  is 
dissolute,  and  extravagant,  and  drunken,  his 
home  will  be  sure  to  betray  it  by  its  look  of 
poverty  and  misery.  But  I  have  said  that  the 
miners  of  the  Hartley  New  Pit  were  sober, 
and  frugal,  and  industrious;  and  this  account? 
for  the  comforts  we  see  around.  It  was  a  re- 
ligious little  community,  too,  and  so  we  need 
not  wonder  that  the  Bible  had  an  honored 
place  in  many  of  these  cottages.  And  even 
those  who  do  not  regard  the  Bible,  and  have 
no  heart-love  for  religion,  will  tell  you  now 
what  a  consolation  it  is  to  think  that  there 
was  so  much  religion  in  this  collier  village 
before  it  was  made  desolate. 

For  it  is  desolate  now;  and  on  the  day 
after  the  discovery  of  the  dead,  almost  all  the 
cottage  windows  were  closely  curtained  with- 
in, to  tell  of  the  bereavement  of  those  who 
yet  lived ;  and  in  every  house  might  be  heard 
the  sobs  and  cries  of  wives  weeping  for  their 
husbands,  sisters  for  their  brothers,  mothers 
for  their  boys,  and  children  for  their  fathers. 


178  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

But  there  was  sympathy  and  consolation  as 
well  as  sorrow.  Kind  and  loving  Christians 
passed  from  house  to  house,  speaking  words 
of  kindness  and  hope  to  the 'mourners,  and 
directing  their  thoughts  to  that  merciful 
Saviour  who  once  suffered  affliction  as  a  man, 
and  "was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we 
are,"  and  "is  able  to  succor  them  that  are 
tempted." 

I  shall  add  nothing  more  respecting  these 
scenes  of  sorrow;  but  I  may  tell,  in  a  few 
lines,  of  the  further  kindness  which  was  shown 
to  the  poor  widows  and  fatherless  children. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  the 
highest  lady  in  the  land  —  the  queen  —  had 
sent  kind  messages  of  encouragement  from 
time  to  time  by  the  electric  telegraph;  and 
as  the  work  was  drawing  to  an  end,  these 
messages  were  repeated,  until  the  news  was 
sent  to  her  that  the  men  and  boys  were  found 
to  be  all  dead ;  and  then  she  caused  this 
letter  to  be  written  :  — 


SORROW    AND    CONSOLATION.  179 

"  SIR  :  The  queen,  in  the  midst  of  her  own 
overwhelming  grief,*  has  taken  the  deepest 
interest  in  the  dreadful  accident  at  Hartley, 
and  up  to  the  last  had  hoped  that  at  least  a 
considerable  number  of  the  poor  people  might 
have  been  recovered  alive.  The  appalling 
news  since  received  has  affected  the  queen 
very  much. 

"Her  Majesty  commands  me  to  say,  that 
her  tenderest  sympathy  is  with  the  poor  wid- 
ows and  mothers,  and  that  her  own  misery 
only  makes  her  feel  the  more  for  them. 

"  Her  Majesty  hopes  that  every  thing  will 
be  done,  as  far  as  possible,  to  alleviate  their 
distress,  and  Her  Majesty  will  feel  a  sad  sat- 
isfation  in  assisting  in  such  measures. 

"  Pray  let  me  know  what  is  doing." 

Be  sure  that  the  queen  did  not  limit  her 
benevolence  to  kind  words.  She  sent  two 
hundred  pounds  to  Hartley  for  the  benefit  of 

*  The  queen  had  at  this  time  been  but  a  little  more  than  a 
month  a  sorrowing  widow. 


180  DOWN   IN   A   MINE. 

the  widows;  and  her  example  was  followed 
by  so  many  in  the  country,  of  all  classes,  that 
in  a  few  days  more  than  enough  money  had 
been  subscribed  throughout  the  country  for 
the  support  of  all  the  bereaved  ones  in  that 
desolate  village. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

LAST   MOMENTS   IN    THE    MINE. 

No  one  lived  to  tell  the  story,  but  there  are 
some  indications  left  behind  of  the  way  in 
which  the  buried  miners  employed  themselves 
after  their  imprisonment. 

The  first  thing  they  did  was  doubtless  to 
escape  from  the  low  main  to  that  above  them 
by  means  of  the  iron  ladder  in  the  staple. 
And  here  I  must  explain  that  there  was  also 
a  staple,  or  passage,  with  another  iron  ladder, 
from  the  high  main  to  the  ground  above. 
But  there  was  no  means  of  getting  from  the 
yard  main  to  the  high  main  except  by  the 
shaft  which  the  accident  blocked  up.  If  there 
had  been,  not  a  life  need  have  been  lost. 

And  there  was  no  reason  why  that  passage 
should  not  have  been  made  ;  it  had  been  neg- 
lected to  be  done  —  that  was  all. 

(181) 


182  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

Now,  I  wish  to  teach  a  short  lesson  to  my 
young  readers  from  this  circumstance.  It  is, 
that  we  have  no  right  to  neglect  the  means 
placed  before  us  for  our  safety,  and  prosperity, 
and  happiness,  and  then  to  expect  God,  in  his 
providence,  to  guard  us  from  the  dangers  we 
incur  by  that  neglect.  If  we  ever  act  in  this 
way,  it  is  from  presumption,  and  not  from 
faith.  It  is  our  duty  to  do  all  that  we  can  for 
ourselves,  and  then  to  leave  ourselves  in  God's 
hands. 

And  if  this  is  true  with  regard  to  our  mor- 
tal lives,  and  our  common  interests  in  life,  it 
is  also  true  with  regard  to  our  souls. 

Let  me  put  this  matter  before  you  in  an- 
other light,  and  suppose,  for  a  minute  or  two, 
that  there  had  been  a  safe  way,  though  a  te- 
dious, and  toilsome,  and  narrow  one,  all  the 
way  from  the  low  main  of  the  Hartley  mine 
to  the  upper  ground  by  means  of  a  staple ; 
but  that,  when  they  found  the  shaft  to  be 
blocked  up  and  ruined,  they  had  refused  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  staple  because  they 


LAST   MOMENTS   IN    THE    MINE.  183 

did  not  like  the  labor,  or  were  too  careless 
about  their  safety,  or  were  so  infatuated  as 
not  to  believe  themselves  to  be  in  danger  of 
perishing. 

"  Oh,  but,"  you  say,  "  they  would  not  have 
acted  so  —  they  could  not ;  they  would  have 
been  so  anxious  to  get  out  of  the  horrible  pit, 
that  they  would  have  crowded  on  one  an- 
other to  get  to  the  narrow  staple  and  the  iron 
ladder." 

I  have  no  doubt  you  are  right,  whoever 
says  this;  for  self-preservation  would  lead 
any  one  to  escape  from  such  perilous  circum- 
stances. But  it  is  sad  to  think  how  many 
there  are  who  will  not  do  for  their  souls  and 
their  eternal  interests  what  they  would  joy- 
fully do  for  their  bodies  and  their  temporal 
interests.  For  instance,  we  may  liken  this 
sinful  world  in  which  we  live  to  a  deep  pit, 
the  shaft  of  which,  leading  to  life,  and  liberty, 
and  heaven,  has  been  ruined,  and  utterly 
blocked  up  by  sin.  How  sad,  and  sorrowful, 
and  hopeless  this  condition.  But  God,  in  hia 


iS-i  DOWN    IX    A    MINE. 

infinite  mercy,  has  opened  another  way,  even 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  says  of  himself 
that  he  is  the  way  ;  and  by  his  Word  and  his 
Spirit  he  invites  lost  men  to  escape  for  their 
lives ;  to  hasten  that  they  may  be  loosed,  and 
not  die  in  the  pit. 

But  how  many  are  there  who  do  not  listen 
to  his  voice,  and  will  not  make  their  escape, 
nor  come  to  Christ  that  they  may  have  life. 
Is  not  this  fearful? 

Young  reader,  have  you  fled  for  refuge  to 
lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  you  in  the 
gospel  ?  If  you  have  not,  you  are  in  great 
danger  of  losing  your  soul.  Think  of  this. 

And  now  I  go  back  again  to  the  poor  miners. 

There  is  no  doubt,  as  I  have  said,  that  they 
did  escape  as-  for  as  it  was  possible  for  them 
to  do  so,  and  were  soon  all  mustered  in  tlio 
yard  main,  or  middle  seam  of  the  mine, 
"What  more  could  they  do  ? 

They  attempted  to  do  more.  During  their 
imprisonment  it  is  said  that  they  were  heard 
working  below;  and  when  the  shaft  was 


LAST    MOMENTS    LX    THE    MINE.  185 

cleared,  and  their  dreary  dungeon  reached, 
tools  were  found  at  the  entrance  to  the  main, 
which  showed  that  they  had  been  doing  all 
in  their  power,  although  unavailingly,  to 
break  a  way  through  the  blocked-up  shaft. 
This  proves  how  conscious  they  were  of  their 
danger,  and  how  anxious  they  were  to  escape 
from  it. 

Do  we  know  any  more  of  these  last  hours 
in  the  mine  ? 

Yes,  a  little  more  that  is  very  affecting,  and 
yet  very  cheering.  In  the  pocket  of  one  of 
the  men  who  perished  was  found  a  mem- 
orandum book ;  and  in  it  these  \vorcta  were 
written :  — 

"  Friday  afternoon  —  half  past  two.  Ed- 
ward Armstrong,  Thomas  Gledson,  John  Har- 
die,  Thomas  Bell,  and  others,  took  extremely 
ill.  We  had  also  a  prayer  meeting  at  a  quar- 
ter to  two,  when  Tibbs,  H.  Sharpe,  J.  Camp- 
bell, H.  Gibson,  and  William  Palmer " 

the  sentence  is  incomplete ;  but  we  may 


186  DOWN   IN    A   MINE. 

readily  fill  up  the  blank  with  the  words  — 
"engaged  in  prayer."  After  this  is  written — 
"  Tibbs  exhorted  to  us  again,  and  Sharpe 
also." 

I  think  that  my  story  may  very  well  leave 
off  here;  for  nothing  more  will  ever  be 
known  of  any  further  particulars  respecting 
the  last  hours  of  these  buried  miners,  none  of 
whom  are  supposed  to  have  survived  the 
fourth  day  of  their  imprisonment.  And  what 
can  we  know  respecting  them,  or  what  can 
their  mourning  widows,  and  orphans,  and 
mothers  know,  better  calculated  to  comfort 
and  cheer  the  mind,  than  that  those  last 
hours  were  spent  in  communion  with  God  by 
prayer,  and  in  encouraging  and  exhorting  one 
another  to  seek  the  Lord  while  he  might  yet 
be  found,  and  to  call  upon  him  while  yet  he 
was  near? 

You  remember  reading  of  the  Israelites, 
who  were  bitten  by  fiery,  flying  serpents,  and 
lay  dying  in  the  camp ;  and  of  Moses  being 


LAST   MOMENTS   IN    THE   MINE.  187 

< 

directed  by  God  to  make  a  serpent  of  brass, 
and  to  lift  it  on  a  high  pole,  so  that  all  in  the 
camp  might  see  it:  and  we  are  told,  you 
know,  "  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten  any  man, 
when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass  he 
lived."  Num.  xxi.  9. 

Well,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  on 
earth,  he  said  to  Nicodemus,  "As  Moses 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even 
so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up ;  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  eternal  life."  John  iii.  14,  15, 

And  so  may  we  surely  believe  that  in  those 
last  hours  down  in  the  mine,  there  was  many 
a  pious  Christian  miner,  passing  from  one  to 
another  of  his  fellow-sufferers,  who  had  never 
perhaps  till  now  thought  much  about  the 
soul,  and  religion,  and  eternal  life,  directing 
their  minds  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  who 
was  lifted  up  on  the  cross  that  all  might  see 
him,  and  seeing  him,  might  believe  on  him  to 
life  everlasting ;  telling  them  of  that  precious 
Redeemer  whose  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin, 


188  DOWN    IN    A    MINE. 

and  repeating  to  them  the  words  of  Christ 
himself,  "  The  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost ; "  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  *ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest ; "  "  For  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'* 

And  we  may  be  sure  of  this,  that  the  weak 
cry  of  new-born  faith,  put  into  the  soul  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  would  reach  his  all- 
hearing  ear,  and  call  forth  the  saving  power 
of  his  almighty  arm,  though  breathed  in  the 
last  moments  of  life,  DEEP  DOWN  IN  A  MINE. 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last 
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